OGDEN, Utah – For the first time in his two-year career, Northern Arizona sophomore distance runner Ahmed Osman was named Big Sky Male Track Athlete of the Week by the conference Thursday afternoon. The former San Diego High School standout won the award for his strong effort at the Mt. SAC Relays last weekend.

In the men's 10,000-meter invitational, Osman nabbed a second-place finish after pulling away from Stanford's Jake Riley on the final lap to turn in a Big Sky-best time of 28:52.57. The hot mark turned in by Osman was also a personal best, and places him at No. 6 in the West Region, and 10th in the nation.

He also moved up in the conference record books and holds the ninth fastest time in Big Sky history.

Armed with a top-10 time, Osman is looking to return to the NCAA Outdoor Championships where he earned All-American status after finishing ninth in the 10K championship race last June.

Also nominated for the weekly conference awards from NAU were seniors Javier Villarreal and Arshiya Hoseyni for their strong efforts in the shot put last weekend, junior Andres Rossini (discus) and sophomore Kortnee Burton (10K).

The Lumberjacks return to action Saturday as they make their final trek down to Tempe for the Sun Devil Open.