The Lone Star Conference recognized twenty student-athletes and two head coaches 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.

      At the LSC meet, Abilene Christian prevailed in the men's race for the 18^th straight year, while Midwestern State captured the women's title for the first time in school history.

      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 men's and women's divisions.

      Cross country standouts Daniel Maina and Winrose Karunda were honored as 2008 LSC Cross Country Runners of the Year after winning the men's and women's conference individual titles.

      ACU's Sam Burroughs and MSU's Koby Styles earned men's and women's Coach of the Year acclaim after guiding their respective teams to conference titles.  Freshman of the Year honors went to ACU's Charles White and MSU's 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.

      The Wildcats Maina won the men's individual title to headline the all-conference list.  He was joined by teammates Cleophas Tanui, Julius Nyango, Serge Gasore and White on the All-LSC list.

      Texas A&M Commerce's men, who finished third, were led by All-LSC performers Tyler Tyndell, Cody Hughes and Robert Reed.  Jared McNeil paced Tarleton State to a second-place finish to earn All-LSC honors, while East Central's John Sutrick also received All-LSC recognition.

      On the women's side, ACU's Karunda and Loice Cheboi finished first and second, respectively, to lead the All-LSC honorees.  MSU's Katie Stepp, Pate and Kayla Hendrix paced the Mustangs to the team title as top 10 finishers.

      Also earning All-LSC acclaim were West Texas A&M's Jeniffer Cherono, Southwestern Oklahoma's Stefanie Jones, Angelo State's Paige Massingill along with Central Oklahoma's Alina Istrate and Evelyn Berko.

2008 LSC CROSS COUNTRY ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS

MEN'S ALL-CONFERENCE PERFORMERS

Place      Runner                        Year        Team                                    Hometown

   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, Texas

   10        John Sutrick                SR          East Central                         Sapulpa, Okla.

SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Men's Team Champion: Abilene Christian

Men's Runner of the Year: Daniel Maina, Abilene Christian

Men's Freshman of the Year: Charles White, Abilene Christian

Men's Coach of the Year: Sam Burroughs, Abilene Christian

WOMEN'S ALL-CONFERENCE PERFORMERS

Place      Runner                        Year        Team                                    Hometown

   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

SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Women's Team Champion: Midwestern State

Women's Runner of the Year: Winrose Karunda, Abilene Christian

Women's Freshman of the Year: Lindsey Pate, Midwestern State

Women's Coach of the Year: Koby Styles, Midwestern State