PORTLAND, Ore. – Nocona Frame has earned her first Great Northwest Athletic Conference Runner of the Week honor for the week of Oct. 13-19. The MSU Billings senior from Glendive, Mont., took home the title at the 2014 Early Bird Cross Country Race hosted by Black Hills State University.
 
"Nocona has been having a great season so far," MSUB head cross country coach Dave Coppock said. "She was suffering earlier in the week from a minor groin injury and we had talked about not even running the Black Hills meet. But, as the meet got closer she was feeling a little better so we went with a plan to just run as easy as possible for the first half of the race and if she didn't feel any pain, move up to the point where she was still comfortable. So, for her to take first while running so easy, was a good indicator of her fitness and her potential to have a great championship season over the next month."
 
The win for Frame on Saturday was her second consecutive title. Frame was also the winner of the 25th Annual Yellowjacket Invitational and NCAA Div. II west region preview race on Oct. 3.
 
For the 5,000 meter distance at BHSU, Frame crossed the tape in 20:01.53. The Yellowjackets took the first four sports at the meet earning a nearly perfect score of 16.
 
Frame is a transfer student from the University of Mary where she competed her freshman and sophomore seasons before being side-lined with injuries. Last season Frame redshirted the fall cross country season in order to work on rehabilitating her injuries, but after was able to come back strong for the track season.
 
"She's gone through a lot in the past couple years with a more serious injury and it took her all last fall to rehabilitate it," Coach Coppock said on Frame. "So, we're all really happy to see her doing so well this season. She deserves a lot of credit for not giving up on herself and sticking with the program."
 
The Yellowjackets will have approximately two weeks off before heading to Monmouth, Ore.,
for the 2014 GNAC Championships hosted by Western Oregon University.