Drennen honored for UCLA 5k

University of Montana sophomore Katrina Drennen of Orting, Wash., has been named the Big Sky Conference Women’s Track Athlete of the Week the league office announced Tuesday. The award is Drennen’s third career athlete of the week accolade.

Drennen was honored for her performance last Friday evening at UCLA’s Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational in Los Angeles, Calif. Racing the 5,000 meters against 23 other runners, Drennen pulled away with a mile to go and defeated the field by over 27 seconds in a career-best time of 16:46.37.

University of Michigan freshman Kaitlyn Patterson finished second in a time of 17:14.27.

Her time has Drennen ranked second in the Big Sky Conference behind Weber State’s Sarah Callister, who has run a 16:42.17, and 27th in the NCAA West Region.

Drennen, who advanced to the NCAA cross country championships last November, was the Big Sky Conference 3,000 meter indoor champion in February.