Butler sweeps Horizon League Cross Country Athlete of the Year Awards
Dec. 6, 2005
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INDIANAPOLIS -- Butler University's Andy Rayner and Victoria Mitchell have been named the 2005 Horizon League Men's and Women's Cross Country Athletes of the Year, the League office announced Tuesday (Dec. 6). Voting was conducted by the League's nine head coaches following the conclusion of the season.
Mitchell receives the Athlete of the Year honor for the second-consecutive season. This year, the senior boasted wins at both the NCAA Pre-National Meet and the Horizon League Championships, where she earned First Team All-League honors. Mitchell also finished first at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, then led her team to a 24th-place finish at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Oct. 29. Her individual fourth-place finish earned her NCAA Division I All-American status.
In addition to the cross country accolades, Mitchell is also a two-time winner of the Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year award and the 2005 NCAA Champion in the 3,000m steeplechase. She has also been named as one of four finalists for the 2005 Cross Country Honda Sports Award, which is presented annually as part of The Collegiate Women Sports Awards program.
Rayner, who won the individual title at this year's Horizon League Championships, earns his first Athlete of the Year award. The junior led Butler to a first-place team finish at the League championships, then paced the team with a 7th-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional. He followed up with a 35th-place showing at the NCAA Championships, finishing the 10k course in 30:29.5.
Butler has swept the Athlete of the Year awards for the past three seasons, with Mitchell and Oly Laws earning the title last season, preceded by Laws and Becky Lynee in 2003. Kim Hemstreet of the University of Detroit Mercy is the only non-Butler athlete to win either the men's or women's honor, as she and Butler's Mark Tucker claimed the first Athlete of the Year honors in 2002.
