Every Sunday or Monday, we’ll pick a male and female athlete of the week from the games of the previous week. Here are our first two honorees for the 2011-12 year:

Female Athlete of the Week – Samantha Mayden, Cross Country

Mayden was the top Division III finisher at the Lehigh Invitational, coming in seventh out of 89 runners. She improved her time from the same meet last year by almost two minutes and led the Mules to wins against local rivals DeSales and Moravian.

Male Athlete of the Week – Kyle Plifka, Soccer

Plifka helped the Mules to a 2-0 opening weekend. In the season opener against Cortland State, he scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the first half, then preserved Muhlenberg’s 3-2 lead by heading a ball out of the goal. The Plifka-led defense also shut out DeSales, which had scored five goals the previous day.