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Eastern Kentucky freshman
Erick Rotich was named 2015 Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Male Athlete of the Year while Belmont senior
Hannah Wittman was tabbed OVC Cross Country Female Athlete of the Year in a vote of league head coaches on the eve of the 2015 OVC Cross Country Championship. In addition Belmont’s
Declan McManus and Southeast Missouri State’s
Kaitlyn Shea were named 2015 OVC Freshmen of the Year. The awards were handed out at an awards banquet on Friday night.
Prior to the 2011 season the awards for the top honors in cross country were determined by placement at the OVC Championship but were changed to a vote in 2011. This year's OVC Championship will be held on Saturday, October 31 at the Miller Memorial Golf Course in Murray, Kentucky. Following the race the awards for Athletes of the Championships, Coach of the Year and the All-OVC teams will be awarded.
In his debut season with Eastern Kentucky Rotich made an immediate impact as he was the Colonels top runner in all four meets in which he competed. He also earned OVC Runner of the Week honors after each of his races. He started the season with a first place finish in a dual meet with regionally-ranked Kentucky and followed that performance a week later by winning the Bluegrass Invitational, topping a field of 75. Rotich was 15th out of 213 competitors at the Greater Louisville Classic (the site of this year’s National Championship) and most recently recorded the top 8K time in the OVC (23:55.8) as he finished 24th out of 244 runners at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational in a field that included 17 nationally-ranked teams (including six of the Top 10 teams in the nation). It marks the 12th-straight year an EKU runner has been named OVC Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year.
In three races this season Wittman not only was the top finisher on her Belmont team but earned OVC Runner of the Week honors after each meet. She opened the season with a victory at the Belmont Opener, topping the field of 91 competitors. The senior was then 13th overall in a field of 244 at the Vanderbilt Commodore Classic before placing 10th at the Greater Louisville Classic in a field of 213 runners. She finished that race with an OVC-best 5K time of 17:12.72, which is almost eight seconds better than any other league competitor this season. This marks the first time a Belmont runner has earned the OVC Female Athlete of the Year Award since joining the OVC prior to 2012.
McManus was the top runner for Belmont in three of four meets this season. He opened the season with a fifth-place finish at the Belmont Opener and followed that with a 33rd place finish at the competitive Vanderbilt Commodore Classic that included 213 runners. McManus ran his best 8K time of the season on October 3 at the Greater Louisville Classic, covering the course in 25:03.6 to place 72nd in the field full of regionally and nationally-ranked foes. He is the first Belmont men’s runner to earn this award.
Shea was either the first or second runner for the Southeast Missouri team in each of the team’s four events this year. She opened her freshman campaign by finishing second overall at the Gabby Reuveni Early Bird in St. Louis. After an 86th place finish at the Vanderbilt Commodore Classic, Shea was 56th overall at the University of Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival, recording the 10th-best 5K time in the OVC this season (17:49.24). Most recently she was scored 52nd at the Bradley Pink Classic, running the ninth-best 6K time in the Conference in 2015 (21:44.5). Shea is the first Southeast Missouri female to earn Freshman of the Year honors since the awarded was first handed out in 2005.