SPARTANBURG, S.C. (Sep. 17, 2025) - Jason Bowers is trying to build a cake one layer at a time. On Wednesday, he put the icing on the first one. 

The redshirt junior from South Africa was named the SoCon Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week by the conference office on Wednesday afternoon for his top 10 finish at the Southern Showcase in Huntsville, Alabama, last Friday. It is his fourth career weekly award, having won three in 2023 en route to All-SoCon and All-American honors. 

In his first race after missing the entire 2024 season due to injury, Bowers finished sixth in a field of over 460 runners in Huntsville with a time of 23:27.01, just under 16 seconds off the winning pace in a field that featured three SEC schools and four ACC schools. 

The Bucs will see more high-level competition in Blacksburg on Friday night at the Hokie Invitational. The men's race starts at 6:30pm at the Buford Meredith Cross Country Course. 

For more information on ETSU cross country, go to ETSUBucs.com.