EAGLE, Idaho – The Mountain West announced its 2023 Men’s and Women’s Cross Country All-Conference teams following the conclusion of the league’s championship on Friday, Oct. 27. The top-14 finishers in each race at the MW championships receive All-MW honors, as the top seven earn first-team recognition, while those placing eighth through 14th garnered second-team accolades.
The Conference also awarded the MW Athlete of the Year honors to the top finishers of the men’s and women’s championship races. Colorado State’s Sarah Carter was awarded the honor on the women’s side after her first-place finish and crossing the finish line in 19:48.5, becoming the first Ram to win the women’s individual title since April Thomas in 2007.
On the men’s side, Habtom Samuel of New Mexico earned the MW Men’s Athlete of the Year award after winning the Conference individual title with a meet-record time of 22:57.7. Samuel is the first Lobo to claim the men’s individual title since 2012 and sixth overall.
New Mexico’s Evans Kiplagat and Julia Kiesler of Boise State earned MW Men’s and Women’s Freshmen of the Year honors, respectively.
As voted on by the league’s coaches, the MW Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year honor was given to Colorado State’s Kelly Hart, while New Mexico’s Darren Gauson collected the MW Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year award.
In his first year at New Mexico, Gauson led the Lobo men’s team to their seventh team title in program history and first since 2014. Also, in her first season as head coach, Hart guided the Ram women’s team to their second team title and first since 2007.
WOMEN’S POSTSEASON AWARDS
All-Mountain West Cross Country First Team
Halle Hamilton, Air Force
Yasmin Austridge, Colorado State
Sarah Carter, Colorado State
Quinn McConnell, Colorado State
Nicola Jansen, New Mexico
Emma Thornley, Utah State
Abigail Whitman, Wyoming
All-Mountain West Cross Country Second Team
Ally Peterson, Air Force
Naomi Lokiles, Boise State
Autumn Ost, Boise State
Kaiya Robertson, Boise State
Kensey May, Colorado State
Klara Dess, New Mexico
Natalia Ruiz, UNLV
MW Women’s Athlete of the Year: Sarah Carter, Colorado State
MW Women’s Freshman of the Year: Julia Kiesler, Boise State
MW Women’s Coach of the Year: Kelly Hart, Colorado State
MEN’S POSTSEASON AWARDS
All-Mountain West Cross Country First Team
Sean Maison, Air Force
Jason Renze, Air Force
Max Sannes, Air Force
Joe Hudson, Boise State
Evans Kiplagat, New Mexico
Lukas Kiprop, New Mexico
Habtom, Samuel, New Mexico
All-Mountain West Cross Country Second Team
Eli Bennett, Air Force
Luke Combs, Air Force
Tom Graham-Marr, Boise State
Tom Patrick, Boise State
Lars Mitchel, Colorado State
Jonathan Carmin, New Mexico
Mason Norman, Wyoming
MW Men’s Athlete of the Year: Habtom Samuel, New Mexico
MW Men’s Freshman of the Year: Evans Kiplagat, New Mexico
MW Men’s Coach of the Year: Darren Gauson, New Mexico
