Nov. 10, 2015
The SEC made it official on Wednesday morning — Caroline Pietrzyk is the SEC Women’s Freshman Runner of the Year.
The standout from Malibu, Calif., secured the honor by being the top female freshman at the SEC Championships two weeks ago in College Station, Texas, where she posted a time of 19:54.1 and placed third overall. For her efforts, Pietrzyk also earned spots on the All-SEC First Team and All-Freshman Team.
Pietrzyk had stormed through an amazing first season with the Commodores, leading the team in all five races this season — four during the regular-season and the SEC Championships. She will carry plenty of momentum into this weekend’s meet, when the Commodores head to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for the NCAA Regionals.
Pietrzyk’s honor was one of many announced by the conference on Tuesday morning when the annual Cross Country Awards, as voted on by the league’s head coaches, were released.
The other women’s recipients include Arkansas’ Dominique Scott (Runner of the Year), Florida’s Taylor Tubbs and Texas A&M’s Karis Jochen (Co-Scholar-Athletes of the Year) and Arkansas’ Lance Harter (Coach of the Year).
The men’s recipients include Alabama’s Antibahs Kosgei (Runner of the Year), LSU’s Dajour Braxton (Freshman of the Year), Arkansas’ Christian Heymsfield (Scholar-Athlete of the Year) and Arkansas’ Chris Bucknam (Coach of the Year).
Kosgei was named the SEC Men’s Runner of the Year after he took home Alabama’s first SEC men’s cross country individual title since Emmanuel Bor won in 2007. He clocked an 8K time of 23:24.2 at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course in College Station, Texas.
Scott was chosen as the SEC Female Runner of the Year for the third consecutive year. She became the fourth person in SEC women’s cross country history to win three league individual titles, and just the third to win three consecutive. She finished the 2015 race in a 6K time of 19:23.6. Scott is the only woman in SEC history to win three SEC cross country individual titles while also leading her team to three consecutive championship titles.
Braxton, the Men’s Freshman Runner of the Year, led the Tigers by finishing in 30th place on the 8K course with a personal-best time of 24:29.2, earning him a spot on the Men’s All-Freshman Team.
Heymsfield is a redshirt junior at Arkansas with a 4.00 grade point average in bio-medical engineering. He placed second overall at the 2015 SEC Cross Country Championships with an 8K time of 23:25.2. Heymsfield, a member of the 2015 SEC Spring Honor Roll, was given the 2014 NCAA Elite 89 Award and the National Science Foundation Research Experience Undergraduate Award from the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Bioproducts.
Jochen is a junior with a 4.00 grade point average in business honors at Texas A&M. She earned a spot on the 2015 Capital One Academic All-District Team for track & field as well as on the USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams for cross country in 2014 and track & field in 2014 and 2015. Jochen finished fifth overall at the 2015 SEC Cross Country Championships in a 6K time of 19:59.2.
Bucknam garnered his sixth consecutive SEC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year award after leading the Razorbacks to their sixth consecutive SEC Championship and 23rd in the last 25 seasons.
Harter earned his 16th all-time SEC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year honor and his third consecutive such accolade after leading the Razorbacks to their third consecutive league crown and their league-leading 16th all-time.
For all of the latest information on SEC Cross Country, please log on to www.SECSports.com.
2015 SEC Cross Country Awards
Women’s Runner of the Year: Dominique Scott, Arkansas
Women’s Freshman Runner of the Year: Caroline Pietrzyk, Vanderbilt
Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Karis Jochen, Texas A&M
Women’s Coach of the Year: Lance Harter, Arkansas
Men’s Runner of the Year: Antibahs Kosgei, Alabama
Men’s Freshman Runner of the Year: Dajour Braxton, LSU
Men’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Christian Heymsfield, Arkansas
Men’s Coach of the Year: Chris Bucknam, Arkansas
