BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Eastern Kentucky University freshman James Sugira has been named the Ohio Valley Conference Male Track Athlete of the Week, the league announced on Wednesday.
 
Sugira was the top collegiate finisher in a stacked 3,000 meters race at the Camel City Elite in Winston Salem, North Carolina on Saturday. His converted time of 7:52.7 is the fastest in the OVC by more than 25 seconds and currently ranks No. 9 in the country, putting him firmly in NCAA contention territory.
 
Sugira was a cross country All-American in the fall, finishing 14^th at the NCAA Championships in Madison, Wisconson. The native of Kigali, Rwanda was also the individual OVC cross country champion.
 
He is the third Colonel to be named OVC Male Track Athlete of the Week this indoor season, joining junior Nickson Rotich (January 16) and senior David David Bascuñana (Jan. 30).
 
Sugira will race the 5,000 meters at the Washington Husky Classic in Seattle this weekend. The Colonels will also compete at the Music City Challenge in Nashville and the Chipotle Marshall Invitational in Huntington, West Virginia over the weekend.