Atkinson, Clark, Holtz Honored By USTFCCCA For Communications Work

SAN ANTONIO — For the sport of collegiate cross country to continue to grow, it relies heavily on a team effort, just like the sport does. Often times, those behind the scenes — like those from the athletics communications staffs — are overlooked.

Rest assured that won’t happen on our watch.

That’s why we’re pleased to announce the recipients of our USTFCCCA Excellence in Communications Award for 2015 cross country: Peter Clark of Boise State (Division I), Jon Holtz of Slippery Rock University (Division II) and Sam Atkinson of Gallaudet University (Division III).

The USTFCCCA Excellence in Communications Award recognizes those athletics communications representatives at schools and conferences who have committed to excellent coverage and support of collegiate cross country. Winners were selected by the communications staff at the USTFCCCA National Office.

Division I

Allie Ostrander wasn’t the only breakout star from Boise State this season.

With more eyes on the Broncos than ever before — mainly because of Ostrander’s emergence — Peter Clark stepped up his coverage and promotion in a big way.

Just ask Boise State Assistant Athletic Director Joe Nickell, who nominated Clark for this award.

"Pete Clark has set the standard for the Bronco SID office on how to promote a program," Nickell wrote. "If you look at the Boise State Cross Country Twitter account, Pete consistently provided content, more than doubling our following to nearly 1,100. He helped create graphics, provided pertinent — and consistent — information, launched videos, etc., all of which shone a light on a program that was establishing itself as a national brand."

In addition to producing a Mic’d Up video with coach Corey Ihmels leading up to the Mountain West Conference Championships, one of the more innovative things Clark did was host a weekly podcast about the team. According to Nickell, the podcasts were "consistently some of the most-listened to of all our sports, including football."

Not bad, Pete. Not bad at all.

Division II

Jon Holtz took the word cross-country literally.

During the preseason Holtz, the Director of Athleitc Communication at Slippery Rock University, joined the cross country team on a trip from Pennslyvania to Alaska.

Holtz chronicled the entire trip not only on the team’s social media page, but through daily recaps and YouTube videos. Then on the way home, Holtz — who also served as the team’s chauffer — collected personal memories from each person on the trip and included them in a lengthy trip recap.

"Througout the season I had many people come up to me and tell me how much they enjoyed that work," said Holtz’s nominating party, Slippery Rock coach John Papa.

Then later in the season, Holtz wore multiple hats when Slippery Rock hosted the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships. Holtz took over the PSAC Twitter feed, served as the public address announcer and then shared hundreds of photos with the other SIDs in addition to his other duties.

"He does all this while also covering a top-10 nationally ranked football program in the fall," Papa said.

Division III

Often times SIDs at the Division III level are one-stop shops.

Such is the case at Gallaudet University, the world’s deaf and hard of hearing university, where Sam Atkinson shines and oversees 14 varsity sports.

The Bison men’s team had a strong year this past season, led by standout freshman Otto Kingstedt, and Atkinson did his best to promote not only the team but Kingstedt’s accomplishments.

Atkinson did most of his best work on the official athletic site, but also on the university’s social media outlets, which are ranked No. 1 by d3socialmedia.com.

“Sam was a tremendous voice for the Gallaudet cross country program this season," Gallaudet cross country and track & field coach Byron Moore said. "I know that it meant a lot to my runners to see that all of their hard work didn’t go unnoticed and was properly showcased and promoted throughout the season."