Division II Caps off 2008 Cross Country Season with National Honors

NEW ORLEANS – Adams State’s Damon Martin, Seattle Pacific’s Jessica Pixler, and Chico State’s Scott Bauhs picked up Division II cross country’s national honors on Tuesday as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced the Division II Cross Country National Athletes and Coaches of the Year honors.

Adam State’s Martin picked up both the men’s and women’s National Coach of the Year honors after leading the Grizzlies to a sweep of the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. The awards are Martin’s 23rd and 24th overall National Coach of the Year honors. Martin led his women Grizzlies to their sixth-straight NCAA title and 14th total in Division II.

Martin’s Grizzlies also won the Central Region title for the sixth consecutive time, also winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title for a seventh year-in-a-row. The Grizzly men also won both the Central Region title and RMAC titles this season to go along with their third NCAA national title under Martin. The last time the Grizzlies won the men’s national title was in 2003. That year Martin’s teams also swept the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Adams State has won six dual national championships (men and women titles in same year). The Grizzlies also combined to have ten USTFCCCA All-Americans in the national meet (5 in each gender).

Martin was the women’s Division II Coach of the Year in 2007.

Seattle Pacific’s Jessica Pixler was named the women’s Division II Athlete of the Year after her impressive performance in Slippery Rock, Pa. The junior from Sammamish, Wash. completed the course in less than 21 minutes to win the individual national title, breaking the previous course record which stood for only two weeks prior to the championships in the process.

Pixler was also the West Region individual champion for the second-straight season and was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion. Pixler’s cross country season was almost a near-miss as she battled back from a serious injury suffered during the track season. She is joined on the USTFCCCA All-American team by her SPU teammate, Jane Larson.

Pixler’s West Region counterpart, Scott Bauhs of Chico State, was named the men’s Division II Athlete of the Year following his remarkable senior season. The Danville, Calif. native became the first Chico State cross country athlete to win the individual national title. His win helped lead the Wildcats to a third-place finish in the team standings, matching the school’s highest finish ever at the Cross Country National Championships (1969, 2005).

In what was quite a year for Bauhs, the senior won his first California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) individual title on October 25th, and followed that up with his first West Region individual title on November 8th.

In addition to the National Athlete and Coach of the Year Awards, the USTFCCCA also released the Division II cross country USTFCCCA All-American teams. There were 40 men chosen on the men’s side led by Adams State which had five runners on the team. Western State and Chico State each had four on the men’s side. Western Washington placed three.

On the women’s side, 33 made the list with Adams State leading the way with five selections. Grand Valley State placed four on the team.

The 2008 USTFCCCA Division II Men’s and Women’s Cross Country All-Americans: