CROSS COUNTRY: Mary Nothum was named on Monday as the Great West Conference Women's Student-Athlete of the Month for the month of September, after dominating on the cross country course all month long.

"This is a great achievement for Mary and we are very proud of her," UVU head cross country coach Scott Houle said. "She has been the pace-setter for our team all season long and her attitude has rubbed off on the team. She has continued to elevate her own ability as she has maintained to compete at a very level. Mary has consistently been our number one all year."

Nothum, a junior from Washington, Mo., won the Montana State Cross Country Invitational, was second at the Wyoming Invitational (including running the second fastest time ever at the meet), and finished sixth at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota during Sept. She was also UVU's top finisher at all three cross country meets in the month and led the Wolverines to a fourth place finish out of 18 teams at the Roy Griak, a race that featured two Top10 teams and another Top 25 team as the only teams to finish ahead of UVU.

The Utah Valley top-runner led the Wolverines to a second place finish at both the Wyoming and Montana State Invitationals and was twice named GWC Runner of the Week in September.

Nothum is the second consecutive Wolverine to be recognized as the conference student-athlete of the month, as Utah Valley volleyball player Kayli Broadbent was honored for her play in the month of August.

UC Davis' Chris Carter was named the men's athlete of the month for the month of Sept., from the sport of football.

Nothum will look to continue her impressive junior campaign when the Wolverines next compete at the GWC Cross Country Championships in the Bronx, N.Y., on Oct. 31.

WOMEN'S SOCCER: At Huntsville, Texas, Utah Valley dropped its final non-conference match of the 2009 season, 3-2, at Sam Houston State on Sunday. The Wolverines (3-10-1, 2-0-1) now play their final three regular season games at home in Great West play beginning with North Dakota on Friday at 4 p.m. MT.

The Bearkats (6-7-2) took a 3-0 lead before two late goals in the minute and a half by Katey Turner and Jaime Lyons put a dent in the final score.

The Wolverines had the edge in several areas on the stat sheet, holding a 21-18 lead in total shots, 9-8 in shots on goal and had six corner kicks to two for Sam Houston State.