IRVING, Texas (September 26, 2017) -- After her second-place individual finish at Saturday's University of Florida / Mountain Dew Gator Invitational, FIU sophomore Sherilene Gelderblom (Middelburg, South Africa) has been named the Conference USA Cross Country Female Athlete of the Week. She is the school's first-ever Cross Country Female Athlete of the Week in now its fifth year of Conference USA membership.
 
Gelderblom finished with a 5K time of 17:21.2, nearly 30 seconds better than the previous 5K school-record time, and more than 20 seconds ahead of the third-place runner in the meet.
 
Gelderblom's two points led the squad, which placed five runners in the top 43 individuals in the meet, leading to the teams second-place finish in the 32-team event. That 148-point finish resulted in the program's first-ever U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) regional ranking, as the Panthers checked in at No. 15 in the South Region in Monday's polls
 
The next meet on the schedule for FIU will be on October 7, at the Disney Cross Country Classic in Orlando.
                                                                                                                                                                                    
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.