Southeast Missouri State junior cross country runner Marc Maton won the Ohio Valley Conference Male Runner of the Week honor on Sept. 22.

"It was really unexpected, it's not something I never really expected to receive, especially in cross country," Maton said. "We had a really good day at Vandy and we got to try and improve on that."

The Southeast men's team placed first in the Gabby Reuveni Early Bird on Sept. 5. Maton was the first-place finisher with a time of 19 minutes 48 seconds in that event.

Maton finished in 20th among the 213 entrants on Sept. 19, in the Vanderbilt Commodore Classic, which placed him first among members of the four Ohio Valley Conference teams that competed at the event.

On Saturday, Maton finished in 47th among college men in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival on Oct. 3, in Arkansas.

The team is preparing for their next meet on Oct. 16 at the Bradley Classic.

"We have to keep doing what we're doing, working really hard and putting in the miles," Maton said. "We have to make sure we are doing what we need to be doing to keep getting better and stay injury free."

Just like in the races, the competitors pace themselves with their practice regimen.

"We train really hard a couple days per week and we only race every two weeks, so in between the hard days we take generous recovery days," Maton said. "Those slower days are really important."

During the slower recovery days, the team will do some lighter running and make sure the athletes are avoiding fatigue.

In that time between races, the team members pushes each other to improve individually.

"It's like how can I personally help the team improve," Maton said. "Everyday we come out here and figure out how we improve the team's place in conference. How do we prepare against other teams right now? What are the best five guys we can put on the cross country course on any day? And it really comes down to it being individual and what can I do to make myself better, but at the same time if I make myself better then the team will be much better, too."

Last season Maton finished in third place in the Gabby Reuveni Early Bird.

In last year's Bradley Classic, he finished second among Southeast entrants.

Maton has been working hard to improve on those finishes this season.

"The training structure is a lot different than it was last year for me personally," Maton said. "I've been putting in a lot more mileage, I've been running about 90 miles a week. Run longer and more often, that's a good way to get better at running. Obviously with doing a lot of running you have to make sure you don't get injured, which is why the recovery days are very important."

Back in February, Maton was one of 210 Southeast athletes to be named a scholar-athlete.

Maton said the hard work he has put into the classroom helps keep him focused when putting work in at the track.

"By having better grades it's one less thing you have to worry about," Maton said. "You don't want to be thinking about that. You just have to keep a good balance with the work."

Maton competes in various events throughout the year, including track competitions. He set personal records in the mile, 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter races last season.

"I've always considered myself more of a track runner, but I wouldn't put that in front of cross country events," Maton said. "I really like running 1,500 track, it's typically what we focus on then. But during cross country season I'm really focused on this."