Bruce Ludlow, the SLC's assistant commissioner for media relations, announced Aden's award this week along with the selection of Jackie John of Lamar as women's Athlete of the Week.
A sophomore from Ottawa, Canada, Aden has finished first in all three of ULM's meets this fall. He won the four-mile men's race in ULM's Pine Hills Twilight Meet on Sept. 10 with a time of 20:40, then won another four-mile run at Louisiana Tech's Pre-WAC race in 21.09, leading the ULM team to victory in both meets.
This past Monday Aden ran a longer event, 8,000 meters, in the NSU Cross Country Invitational at Natchitoches and won again with a time of 25:22.6 against a nine-team field.
"Maya is very deserving," said ULM Coach J.D. MALONE of Aden's selection. "He's been running pretty good all fall. He had some injuries last year that kept him from doing as well as we thought he could do but we always knew he was very talented. He was the highest finishing freshman in the conference meet last year (13th). This year he has gotten over his injuries, he's been training consistently through the summer into the fall and right now he is running well."