Tuesday, November 26, 2013

CUFFE NAMED PAC-12 RUNNER OF THE YEAR

Nov. 26, 2013



CUFFE NAMED PAC-12 RUNNER OF THE YEAR



WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – Stanford junior Aisling Cuffe, the conference individual champion, was named Pac-12 Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year on Tuesday.



Cuffe also was among five Stanford runners, among men and women, named to the All-Pac-12 teams. Cuffe and Jim Rosa received first-team honors, for women and men, respectively. Named to the second team were seniors Michael Atchoo and Erik Olson for the men and Jessica Tonn for the women.



Cuffe becomes the sixth different Cardinal runner to earn the honor, and it’s the eighth time the honor has gone to Stanford overall. However, Cuffe is the first since 2007, when Ariana Lambie won the last of her three consecutive Pac-12 awards. Other Stanford winners were Sara Bei (2003), Alicia Craig (2002), Erin Sullivan (1999), and Louise Watson (1992).



Cuffe, a native of Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., won the Pac-12 championship on Nov. 2, in the altitude of Louisville, ,Colo. She followed with a third place at the NCAA West Region meet in Sacramento and capped her season with fourth place at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday.



Rosa was runner-up to Pac-12 Men’s Athlete of the Year Edward Cheserek of Oregon in both the conference and regional meets. Rosa went on to become the top American-born finisher at the NCAA Championships, when he captured fifth.



Olson was 11th at Pac-12’s and third at regionals, and 85th at NCAA’s. Atchoo was 12th at the Pac-12’s and sixth at regionals, and 100th at NCAA’s.



Tonn was ninth at Pac-12’s, sixth at regionals, and 16th at NCAA’s. Cuffe, Tonn, and Rosa each earned All-America honors.



For more information, contact:



David Kiefer

Assistant Athletic Communications Director

Stanford University

dkiefer@stanford.edu

(650) 759-0258, cell





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