BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Eastern Kentucky University senior Kat Pagano was named the Ohio Valley Conference Female Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week and sophomore Soufiane Bouchikhi was named the Co-Male Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week on Tuesday by the league office.

Pagano and Bouchikhi were two of five EKU distance runners who competed against some of the best competition in the country this weekend at the Stanford Invitational.

Pagano placed 11th in her heat of the women’s 5,000 meters on Friday morning, breaking the 17:00 mark for the first time in her career with a personal and OVC-best time of 16:56.26. Her time is the third-fastest in EKU history and is the best in the OVC this outdoor season by a minute and 28 seconds.

Bouchikhi finished 13th in the fastest heat of the men’s 5,000 meters on Friday night, breaking the 14:00 mark for the first time in his career with a personal and OVC-best time of 13:58.17. His time is the 12th fastest collegiate 5,000 meters time in the country so far this outdoor season. It is also the second-fastest outdoor 5,000 meters time in EKU history, eclipsing his own previous personal-best of 14:01.71.

It is the second career OVC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week honors for Pagano and Bouchikhi – they were both given the honor on April 27, 2010 following their performances at the prestigious Penn Relays – and it is the fourth time the duo has been named OVC Athletes/Runners of the Week (track and field or cross country) together in the same week.

Bouchikhi shared this week’s award with Tennessee State’s Michael Rideout. Other winners this week were Southeast Missouri’s Brandon Colbert (Male Field Athlete of the Week) and Southeast Missouri’s Samantha Espiricueta (Female Field Athlete of the Week).

The EKU track and field team returns to action this weekend when the Colonels compete at the Centre Invitational on Saturday, April 2.