University of Evansville cross country coach Don Walters announced his program’s post-season award winners recently at the cross country program’s end-of-the-year banquet, held at the Carson Center.

Earning team Most Valuable Runner honors were junior Ryan Witters (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) and freshman Lauren Zeabart (Fort Branch, Ind./Gibson Southern).  Senior Arrena Svoboda (Katy, Texas/Cinco Ranch) earned the women’s team’s Most Improved Runner award, while juniors Max Cordier (Munich, Germany/Rockville [Ind.]) and Christopher Kipchirchir (Eldoret, Kenya) shared the men’s Most Improved Runner honors.  UE’s Outstanding Freshman honor went to rookie Cody Stein (Evanston, Ind./Heritage Hills), while senior Michael Romine (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) garnered UE’s 110 Percent Award.  Team Captain awards were also presented to Romine, seniors Brian Joyce (Evansville, Ind./Central) and Courtney Heller (Montgomery, Ind./Barr-Reeve), redshirt junior Matthew Kaufman (Santa Claus, Ind./Heritage Hills) and redshirt freshman Shelby Cron (Newburgh, Ind./Memorial).

Witters garnered the team’s Most Valuable Runner award on the men’s side after leading the squad in all eight meets during his junior year.  Witters set new personal-best times in the 6-, 8-, and 10-K events for the Purple Aces as a junior, while posting five top 25 individual finishes, including three top 10 finishes.  He placed a squad-best 16th overall to set the pace for UE at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships, and posted the ninth-fastest 10-K time on record at UE at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships with a time of 33:04.81.

Zeabart, meanwhile, exploded onto the scene as a freshman to earn team Most Valuable Runner honors after leading the team in six of its eight meets.  Zeabart posted the team’s fastest 5-K time of the year at the EIU Panther Open with a mark of 19:23.88 to place 16th overall.  She totaled four top 20 individual finishes on the year for the Purple Aces, while also posting the 10th-fastest 6-K time in school history at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships with a mark of 23:30.10.

Svoboda garnered UE’s Most Improved Runner award on the women’s side after setting a new personal-best mark in the 4-K event with a time of 16:47.75 at the Mid-America Opener to kick off her senior campaign.  She then also finished just seven seconds shy of her best 6-K standard in her final meet as a Purple Ace with a time of 24:22.00 at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships.  Cordier and Kipchirchir, meanwhile, shared UE’s Most Improved Runner award on the men’s side, as Cordier cut over 20 seconds off of his previous-best 8-K time as a Purple Ace while developing into a top-five runner for UE, while Kipchirchir posted the squad’s second-fastest 8-K time of the year at the Great American Cross Country Festival and raced second for UE at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships.

Stein was the runaway winner for the program’s Outstanding Freshman award after racing among UE’s scoring pack in all eight meets as a true freshman.  He posted three top 25 individual finishes, including placing a season-best 16th place at the Salukis Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois.  Romine, meanwhile, captured the program’s 110 Percent Award for his work both in practice and meets as one of UE’s five team captains.  Romine established a new personal-best time in the 6-K event at the Mid-America Opener, while falling just one second shy of his 8-K personal-best mark at the Great American Cross Country Festival.