WASHINGTON – The Atlantic 10 Conference named Duquesne sophomore Ben Shields and Richmond sophomore Hallie Muniz as its Under Armour Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Performers of the Week, respectively. VCU freshman Jonathan Hess and Duquesne freshman Lauren Ciuca were tabbed as Men’s and Women’s Rookies of the Week. The awards were announced on Tuesday and are for competitions from September 8 to September 14.  
 

Shields was the top Duquesne finisher at the RMU Colonial Invitational. The St. Clairsville, OH native placed fourth overall with a time of 24:36.2. Shields improved his previous personal 8K best time by more than 30 seconds.  
 

In Hess’ first collegiate 8K event, he earned a second place finish out of 86 runners. Hess, a West Milton, PA native, completed the CNU Cross Country Invite in 25:40.50. 
 

Muniz competed in the Virginia Invitational for the Spiders, where she finished in 12th place. Muniz, a Potomac, MD native completed the 5K race in 17:40.0.  
 

Ciuca, from Vandergrift, PA was Duquesne’s highest finisher at the RMU Colonial Invitational. She completed her first collegiate 6K race in 21:56.2. 

2025 Men's and Women's Cross Country Weekly Awards

Date	Men’s Performer	Men’s Rookie	Women’s Performer	Women’s Rookie
9/2/25	Biruk Beardsley, GM	Jonathan Hess, VCU	Ella Semple, GM	Charlotte Moor, DAV
9/9/25	Clay Peets, SBU	Matt Lucas, URI	Lily Saul, URI	Jordan Hadfield, URI
9/16/25	Ben Shields, DUQ	Jonathan Hess, VCU	Hallie Muniz, UR	Lauren Ciuca, DUQ