FRISCO, Texas – McNeese junior cross country runner Luke Betts has been named the 2015 Southland Conference Men's Cross Country Newcomer of the Year, the league announced on Wednesday in conjunction with the release of the all-conference teams.
 
Betts, a native of Manchester, United Kingdom, is the third McNeese Cowboy runner to earn newcomer of the year honors since the award was started in 2006, joining current cross country coach Joshua Sawe (2009) and Alex Bruce-Littlewood (2011).
 
Betts finished in 46^th place at the conference championship meet last Friday, running a time of 26:36.3 in the 8-kilometer race which the Cowboys finished third in the team standings.
 
Also on Wednesday, the league officially released the all-conference teams that consists of runners that finished in the top 10 individually. Positions 1-5 earned first team honors while 6-10 were named to the second team.
 
For the Cowboys, sophomore Nathan Jones earned second team honors after he placed 10^th in the race with a time of 25:22.7. McNeese had three other runners finish from 11-20: Enock Bor in 13^th place (25:29.0); Bradley Traviss in 14^th (25:29.6); and Olive James in 20^th (25:55.7). Both Bor and Traviss earned honorable mention honors.
 
On the women's side, Gemma Bridge just missed out on first team all-conference honors with a sixth place finish in the 6k race with a time of 21:19.9. She fell just 1.8 second short of fifth place and first team honors.
 
Katja Woelfl finished in 13^th place with a time of 21:59.8 to earn honorable mention honors.
 
Lamar's Iliass Aouani earned the league's Male Athlete of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards while Alexandria Hackett of Abilene Christian was named the Female Athlete of the Year. Aubrey Till of ACU was named Female Freshman of the Year while Keila Rodriguez of Incarnate Word was named the Female Newcomer of the Year.
 
Men's Coach of the Year went to Lamar's Tony Houchin while ACU's Keith Barnier was named the Women's Coach of the Year.
 
Individual Award Winners
Male Athlete of the Year: Iliass Aouani, Lamar
Female Athlete of the Year: Alexandria Hackett, Abilene Christian
Male Freshman of the Year: Iliass Aouani, Lamar
Female Freshman of the Year: Aubrey Till, Abilene Christian
Male Newcomer of the Year: Luke Betts, McNeese State
Female Newcomer of the Year: Keila Rodriguez, UIW
Men's Coach of the Year: Tony Houchin, Lamar
Women's Coach of the Year: Keith Barnier, Abilene Christian
 
Men's 2015 All-Southland Conference Cross Country Teams
First Team

Name	School	Class	Hometown
Iliass Aouani	Lamar	Fr.	Sicily, Italy
Charles Mathenge	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	Ol Kalou, Kenya
Nicholas Guerra	Stephen F. Austin	Sr.	East Bernard
Colby Mehem	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	Princeton, Texas
Alex Dunbar	Lamar	Sr.	Barningham, England

 
Second team

Name	School	Class	Hometown/High School
Sean Chalmers	Lamar	So.	Dingwall, Scotland
Gabriel Steffenson	Lamar	Fr.	Gothenburg, Sweden
Tobias Riker	Lamar	Sr.	Mainz, Germany
Jeffrey Weisheit	Stephen F. Austin	So.	Mansfield, Texas
Nathan Jones	McNeese State	So.	Rhyl, Wales

 
Honorable Mention: Cody Brown, Stephen F. Austin; Julien Jeandree, Central Arkansas; Enock Bor, McNeese State; Bradley Traviss, McNeese State; Garett Cortez, UIW.
 
 
Women's 2015 All-Southland Conference Cross Country Team
First Team

Name	School	Class	Hometown/High School
Alexandria Hackett	Abilene Christian	Jr.	Cranston, R.I.
Jannika John	Lamar	Sr.	Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany
Verity Ockenden	Lamar	Sr.	Shaftesbury, England
Diana Garcia-Munoz	Abilene Christian	Jr.	Phoenix, Ariz.
Courtney High	Stephen F. Austin	So.	Inez, Texas

 
Second Team

Name	School	Class	Hometown/High School
Gemma Bridge	McNeese State	Sr.	Oxford, UK
Michaela Hackett	Abilene Christian	Jr.	Cranston, R.I.
Shelby Pesek	Stephen F. Austin	Sr.	Corpus Christi, Texas
Rainy Castaneda	UIW	Sr.	Laredo, Texas
Katrina Fite	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	Hockley, Texas

 
Honorable Mention: Evelyn Chavez, Lamar; Aubrey Till, Abilene Christian; Katja Woelfl, McNeese State; Taylor Anderson, Stephen F. Austin; Brittany Innis, Stephen F. Austin.