This week’s Athlete of the Week is cross country standout, Samantha Goldsmith.  Goldsmith led a pack of Keene State College runners that dominated the Little Eastern Conference championships on Saturday, Nov. 2. The sophomore has been strong all year, finishing the 5K course in a time of 18:36. She was part of a pack of Lady Owls that finished the race with four runners in the top five.  Needless to say, KSC beat the second-place University of Southern Maine handily, 17-44.  The win marked the teams unprecedented 14th consecutive LEC win and provided momentum going into next week’s ECAC’s.

Our runner-up this week is women’s soccer forward, Hayley Kenyon.  The senior started the week with a game winning assist in the 86th minute of a tight match against Westfield State.  The team’s lights-out defense was able to hold the lead and secure a 2-1 win. Kenyon added an assist in the ninth minute of the Lady Owls last game of the season just three days later.  But Kenyon wasn’t finished ending the regular season with a bang, scoring an unassisted goal in the second half to add to a 4-0 drubbing of Southern Maine on Nov. 2.  Now the team starts the Little Eastern Conference tournament on Thursday, November 7, as the second seed hoping to make a deep run.

Our second runner-up is sophomore cross country star Ryan Brady.  Like Goldsmith, Brady finished first overall for the men at the LEC championships, with a time of 25:40.

Zach Winn can be contacted at zwinn@keene-equinox.com