Pac-12 announces 2018 cross country honors

Stanford’s Grant Fisher, Colorado's Dani Jones Repeat as Athletes of the Year
Oregon’s Charlie Hunter Named Men’s Freshman of the Year
Colorado's Holly Bent Named Women’s Freshman of the Year
Stanford’s Miltenberg, Oregon's Johnson Named Men’s, Women’s Coach of the Year

SAN FRANCISCO - The Pac-12 Conference announced on Tuesday the recipients of the 2018 Men’s and Women’s Cross Country All-Conference honors. On the men’s side, STANFORD’s Grant Fisher repeated as Athlete of the Year, while OREGON’s Charlie Hunter garnered Freshman of the Year accolades. For the women, COLORADO’s Dani Jones also repeated as Athlete of the Year and teammate Holly Bent crossed as Freshman of the Year. Stanford's Chris Miltenberg was voted Pac-12 Men’s Coach of the Year for the second straight year, while Oregon's Robert Johnson collected his third Pac-12 Women's Coach of the Year honor in seven years.

Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year - Grant Fisher, Sr., Stanford
Fisher (Grand Blanc, Mich.) earns his second consecutive Pac-12 Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year honor after defending his individual title last Friday on his home Stanford Golf Course circuit. The senior broke free of a large pack of runners over the final 200 meters to win by just 0.4 seconds and lead the Cardinal to a second straight Conference championship. Fisher joins Oregon's Galen Rupp (2008) as the only men to capture both Pac-12 Athlete and Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards in the sport in the same year, and is one of only two Stanford men to win multiple Pac-12 individual titles (Grant Robison, 2001-02).

Men's Cross Country Freshman of the Year - Charlie Hunter, Oregon
Hunter (Gosford, Australia) becomes the league-leading eighth Pac-12 Freshman of the Year to come from Oregon and the second straight after Cooper Teare garnered the award in 2017. Hunter was the highest finishing rookie in the 2018 field, crossing the line in 16th place and third overall for the Ducks behind Teare and junior Jackson Mestler.

Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year - Dani Jones, Sr., Colorado
Jones (Phoenix, Ariz.) is the first repeat Pac-12 women's individual champion since Stanford's Arianna Lambie (2005-07) and first back-to-back Athlete of the Year winner since Oregon's Jordan Hasay (2010-12). Similar to her 2017 title in which she won by 1.2 seconds, Jones outkicked her closest competitor in Oregon's Jessica Hull to the finish for a narrow 0.6-second victory. Jones also adds a third First Team All-Pac-12 honor to her list of accolades with her third-place showing at the 2016 Pac-12 Championships along with victories in 2017 and 2018.

Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year - Holly Bent, Colorado
Bent (Louisville, Colo.) was the highest finishing freshman in the women's race in 22nd place to become the first Colorado woman to capture the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year accolade. It's the first time since 2012 and only the fourth time since the women's newcomer award was created in 1999 that the same school produced both the Conference's Athlete and Freshman of the Year.

Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year - Chris Miltenberg, Stanford
Miltenberg collects his second straight Pac-12 Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year honor after guiding Stanford to a repeat Conference crown last Friday. He is now one of four Cardinal coaches to claim multiple Conference Coach of the Year laurels in the sport, joining fellow two-time recipients Jason Dunn and Andrew Gerard and five-time winner Vin Lananna.

Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year - Robert Johnson, Oregon
Johnson receives his third Pac-12 Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year award on the heels of leading the Oregon program - also guided by first-year associate head coach Helen Lehman-Winters - to its third Conference team title of his tenure (2012, 2014, 2018). Johnson is now one of six to win at least three Coach of the Year distinctions in the sport along with Colorado's Mark Wetmore (three-time), Oregon's Tom Heinonen (six-time), and Stanford's Vin Lananna (six-time), Beth Alford-Sullivan (three-time) and Peter Tegen (three-time).

2018 PAC-12 CROSS COUNTRY HONORS*

* - All-Conference teams determined by order of finish at the Pac-12 Championships.