Senior Ben Blankenship was named the Big Ten Runner of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday.

Blankenship is in his final season of cross country eligibility and is serving as captain of the team. His 10th place finish at Saturday’s Griak Invitational helped buoy the team to a fifth place finish in the 22-team field.

He got a late start to conditioning this year, as he took an abbreviated break following his work with USA Track and Field this summer, where he competed and won a silver medal at the Under-23 championships.

Blankenship also competes for head coach Steve Plasencia on the track, where he holds the school record in the mile, 3 minutes, 57.87 seconds.