Dec. 5, 2008

RICHARDSON, Texas – West Texas A&M junior Jeniffer Cherono was one of twenty student-athletes and two head coaches recognised by the Lone Star Conference as league officials announced the annual cross country postseason honors. The announcement comes following the annual LSC Cross Country Championships, NCAA South Central Regional and NCAA Championships meet.

All-conference honors are given to those runners who finish among the top 10 individually at the conference meet, while additional awards are presented for Coach of the Year, Runner of the Year and Freshman of the Year in both the mens and womens divisions.

Cherono, who had three individual first-place finishes in 2008, placed fifth at the NCAA Division II South Central Region, then finished 62nd at the snow-covered NCAA National Championships.

Joining Cherono on the womens squad were Abilene Christian’ Karunda and Loice Cheboi, Midwestern State’s Katie Stepp, Pate and Kayla Hendrix paced the Mustangs to the team title as top-10 finishers. Also earning all-LSC acclaim were Southwestern Oklahomas Stefanie Jones, Angelo States Paige Massingill along with Central Oklahomas Alina Istrate and Evelyn Berko.

ACU standouts Daniel Maina and Winrose Karunda were honored as 2008 LSC Cross Country Runners of the Year after winning the mens and womens conference individual titles.

ACUs Sam Burroughs and MSUs Koby Styles earned mens and womens Coach of the Year acclaim after guiding their respective teams to conference titles. Freshman of the Year honors went to ACUs Charles White and MSUs Lindsey Pate.

The runner and coaching honors were selected by a vote of all the LSC head coaches, while the freshman awards went to the top freshman finishers at the league championships.

1 Winrose Karunda SO Abilene Christian Nyeri, Kenya

2 Loice Cheboi SR Abilene Christian Eldoret, Kenya

3 Jeniffer Cherono JR West Texas A&M Iten, Kenya

4 Katie Stepp JR Midwestern State Washington C.H., Ohio

5 Stefanie Jones JR Southwestern Oklahoma Fort Smith, Ark.

6 Alina Istrate SO Central Oklahoma Galati, Romania

7 Lindsey Pate FR Midwestern State Fort Worth, Texas

8 Evelyn Berko JR Central Oklahoma Moore, Okla.

9 Paige Massingill JR Angelo State Comanche, Texas

10 Kayla Hendrix FR Midwestern State Lubbock, Texas

Womens Team Champion: Midwestern State

Womens Runner of the Year: Winrose Karunda, Abilene Christian

Womens Freshman of the Year: Lindsey Pate, Midwestern State

Womens Coach of the Year: Koby Styles, Midwestern State

 MENS ALL-CONFERENCE PERFORMERS

1 Daniel Maina JR Abilene Christian Nanyuki, Kenya

2 Cleophas Tanui JR Abilene Christian Kobujol, Kenya

3 Julius Nyango SR Abilene Christian Aldai, Kenya

4 Tyler Tyndell JR Texas A&M-Commerce Paris, Texas

5 Serge Gasore SR Abilene Christian Kigali, Rwanda

6 Charles White FR Abilene Christian Kingwood, Texas

7 Cody Hughes FR Texas A&M-Commerce Anna, Texas

8 Robert Reed JR Texas A&M-Commerce Sachse, Texas

9 Jared McNeil SO Tarleton State Saginaw, exas

10 John Sutrick SR East Central Sapulpa, Okla.

Mens Team Champion: Abilene Christian

Mens Runner of the Year: Daniel Maina, Abilene Christian

Mens Freshman of the Year: Charles White, Abilene Christian

Mens Coach of the Year: Sam Burroughs, Abilene Christian