Saint Leo University collected a lot of hardware as Ronald Cheserek (left), Colett Rampf (middle), and coach Kent Reiber (right) won awards from USTFCCCA.
Credit:@saintleolions
On Nov. 8, a few of the Saint Leo Lions brought home some hardware as senior Colett Rampf, and sophomore Ronald Cheserek were both awarded as U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Regional Athletes of the Year. Kent Reiber was also named the USTFCCCA South Region Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Rampf is no stranger to this spotlight as she is now a three-time USTFCCCA South Region Women’s Athlete of the Year award winner, after winning the award for her previous two seasons. She has become the first three-time runner of the year winner in the history of the South Region and the only women’s cross country runner at Saint Leo to win the award. Rampf won the 2017 NCAA South Region Championship by almost 52 seconds ahead of the second-place runner.
Cheserek won the award for the first time in his career and is the second male to win the award in the history of the program, joining Valentin Lenz (2013); the win came after a victory at the NCAA South Region meet.
This is the third time Coach Reiber won the South Region Coach of the Year award after winning the men’s award in 2015 and women’s award in 2016. He has led the Saint Leo men’s and women’s cross country teams to their first two South Region championships in the program’s history; the men won in 2015 and the women this year. Under Reiber, the men have won the SSC title in both 2015 and 2016, with the women also winning in 2016. He was an assistant coach back in 2014 when the Lions won both the men’s and women’s SSC championships.
Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams will be traveling to Evansville, Indiana to compete at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships this weekend. This is the fifth consecutive season for the men to compete in the championship race and the fourth consecutive for the women. Congratulations to the award winners and good luck to all the Lions competing.
