Irvine—The Big West Conference announced their end-of-season awards Wednesday, and UC Riverside's Faith Makau was named the 2015 Big West Cross Country Women's Athlete of the Year.
 
Makau joins former teammate Raquel Hefflin, who won last year, in winning the prestigious award, and is just the second Women's Athlete of the Year award winner in Highlander history.
 
Faith started her sophomore season at the Nevada Twilight Classic with a top-three finish and a record-setting performance in the 4k in a time of 14:50—a career best and 37 seconds better than the previous season.
 
Makau then claimed the individual title at the Highlander Invitational, completing the 5K in 17:17.63, while leading the UCR Women's Cross Country team to its second consecutive title. For that performance, Makau was named Big West Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week
 
Just two weeks later, Makau captured the individual title at the Big West Championships on October 31, winning the 6K event with a time of 20:27.50, which was 20 seconds faster than her performance a year ago.
 
Makau received Big West accolades last season when she was named Freshman of the Year.

complete list of Big West Cross Country honorees