Cross Country's Lowe and Morgan Earn Conference Honors
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | Cross Country
The No. 3 University of Florida women's cross country team took the Southeastern Conference title on Oct. 31 and with it came two major awards. Redshirt sophomore Rebecca Lowe (Vaucluse, Australia) was named SEC Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year and coach Todd Morgan was named Women's Coach of the Year, the league announced Tuesday evening.
Lowe earned the program's fifth individual SEC title on Saturday, finishing first in the 10th-best SEC Championship 6K time (20:57.35) in UF history as the women took five of the top-10 spots in Oxford, Miss. The team title marked the fourth in school history and the first since 1997.
Earlier in the season, Lowe helped earn the Gators a second-place finish at the highly-competitive Pre-NCAA Invitational, only to No. 1 Washington as Lowe finished ninth overall and second among Gators. She was one of two UF runners to earn Florida's first-ever top-10 finishes at the meet.
Morgan is in his second year as the primary coach for the cross country teams and his fourth season at Florida. The women's team has been stellar this season, climbing its way up the national polls from a preseason No. 14 pick to a current No. 3. They also jumped from the second spot in the South Region ranking to the No. 1 ranking and fulfilled their preseason pick as SEC champions.
Morgan has coached the Gator women to top-five finishes in all five meets this season, including a win at the Mountain Dew Invitational and a third-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational, another competition filled with nationally-ranked teams.
The Gators have this weekend off before they head to Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Nov. 14 for the NCAA South Region Championships. The first- and second-place teams earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 23. The men run the 10K for the first time this season at 9 a.m. (ET) while the women run the 6K at 10:15 a.m. (ET).
2009 Southeastern Conference Awards:
| Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year | Rebecca Lowe, Florida |
| Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year | Barnabas Kirui, Ole Miss |
| Female Freshman Athlete of the Year | Alyssa Allison, Arkansas |
| Male Freshman Athlete of the Year | Soloman Haile, Arkansas |
| Women's Coach of the Year | Todd Morgan, Florida |
| Men's Coach of the Year | Joe Walker, Alabama |
2009 Cross Country All-SEC Teams
| Women's First Team | Women's Second Team | ||
| Rebecca Lowe | Florida | Stephanie Barnes | Auburn |
| Charlotte Browning | Florida | Julie Northrup | Florida |
| Jackie Areson | Tennessee | Miranda Walker | Arkansas |
| Kristie Krueger | Georgia | Bridget Lyons | Georgia |
| Stacey Johnson | Florida | Brittany Sheffey | Tennessee |
| Holly Knight | Auburn | Katie Van Horn | Tennessee |
| Genevieve LaCaze | Florida | Chelsea Oswald | Kentucky |
| Men's First Team | Men's Second Team | ||
| Barnabas Kirui | Ole Miss | Lane Boyer | Arkansas |
| Dorian Ulrey | Arkansas | Solomon Haile | Arkansas |
| Felix Kibioywo | Auburn | Justin Taylor | Florida |
| Jean-Pierre Weerts | Auburn | Michael Spooner | Tennessee |
| Ben Cheruiyot | Auburn | Fred Samoei | Alabama |
| Moses Kiptto | Alabama | Luis Orta | Arkansas |
| Tyson David | Alabama | Julius Bor | Alabama |
| Women's Freshman Team | Men's Freshman Team | ||
| Chelsea Oswald | Kentucky | Soloman Haile | Arkansas |
| Alyssa Allison | Arkansas | Luis Orta | Kentucky |
| Cally Macumber | Kentucky | Aaron Hamilton | Arkansas |
| Jordan White | Vanderbilt | Bill Matthews | Georgia |
| Taylor Johnson | Arkansas | Matt Sonnenfeldt | Kentucky |
| Allie Scalf | Vanderbilt | Brett Richardson | Georgia |
| Sydney Devore | Florida | Leoule Degfae | Tennessee |
