CHICAGO – Fifth-year senior Lexi Clarke (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet JC/Plainfield South) claimed Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Women's Track Athlete of the Week honors for the Saint Xavier University women's track & field team when the awards were announced by the league office Wednesday morning. This past Saturday at the Aurora Grand Prix hosted by Aurora University (Ill.), Clarke set the program record in the 400m, hitting the NAIA 'A' Standard, with a second-place time of 56.23 seconds while competing against 43 other runners across eight heats. She had the fastest time in heat three. It is the first CCAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Week win for Clarke, and the second overall as she was the CCAC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week on April 29 last season.

• Clarke narrowly missed the top time of 56.11 seconds by a Sara Schermerhorn from NCAA Division III Hope College (Mich.). She also competed against runners from NCAA Division I and Division II.
• Her new program record topped the mark of 59.81 seconds that was established by former standout Rachal Brooks (2014-18) at the CCAC Indoor Championships on February 16, 2018. Clarke is just the fourth runner for the Cougars to run a sub-one-minute 400m.

Saint Xavier returns to the Worrill Track & Field Center on Saturday, January 31 to take part in the Chicago Collegiate Invitational.