FRISCO, Texas - Southeastern Louisiana’s
Henry Rop and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Anne Ronoh have been named the Capital One/Southland Conference Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Student-Athletes of the Year.
Rop, a native of Kapsabet, Kenya, is the first Southeastern men’s cross country runner named student-athlete of the year. A nursing major with a 3.22 grade-point average, Rop finished ninth at the 2009 Southland Championships and placed 20th at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in Waco, Texas. During the season Rop picked up his first individual victory at the Mississippi College eight-kilometer event.
Ronoh, a 3.47 nursing major, is the first Islander women’s runner to be named cross country student-athlete of the year. A native of Iten, Kenya, Ronoh joins UTSA’s Dana Mecke (2008) and Lamar’s Clerc Koenck (2007) as the only Southland women cross country runners to be named athlete ot the year and student-athlete of the year. Ronoh won the individual title at the 2009 Southland Championships leading A&M-Corpus Christi to its third consecutive title. She finished sixth at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in Waco and is the only female runner in Islander history to qualify for the NCAA championships for two consecutive seasons.
The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 12 member schools, voted for the student-athletes of the year. The student-athlete of the year award is presented to the one student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
Included in Capital One Bank’s support of the Southland Conference’s Academic Awards Program is the F.L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarship, the All-Academic Teams, the Student-Athlete of the Year, the Scholar-Athlete Award and the Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
Cross country does not select an All-Academic team until after the conclusion of the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons.