Ester Zar of the Virginia Wesleyan University women's cross country team was a named ODAC Women's Runner of the week for her performance this past weekend. 

Zar, a first-year from Jonkoping, Sweden, was Virginia Wesleyan's top finisher at the VSU Cross Country Challenge hosted by Virginia State University at Randolph Farm in Petersburg, Va. Zar finished second overall in a field of 41 runners, trailing only champion Rose Muturi from host VSU. Zar used a 6:19.0 per-mile pace to post the second-fastest five-kilometer time in Marlins women's cross country program history at 19:37.7. That mark appears as the sixth-fastest 5K time in the ODAC on the 2025 performance list.