BATON ROUGE – A freshman and a senior captured top honors as Runners of the Year on the 2015 Louisiana Sports Writers Association All-Louisiana cross country team announced on Tuesday.
Freshman Dajour Braxton of LSU and LSU senior Morgan Schuetz earned the titles after a vote of sports information/media relations reps from the various schools. Voters could not vote for student athletes from their respective schools.
Braxton was also chosen as the men’s Freshman of the Year while McNeese’s Luke Betts earned Newcomer of the Year for first-year non-freshman Louisiana products. SWAC championship coach Bertran Lovell was chosen men’s Coach of the Year.
On the women’s side along with Schuetz, Colby Carey of ULM and Leonie Weber of McNeese tied for Freshman of the Year and Brendon Gilroy of McNeese was named women’s Coach of the Year.
Braxton was named the SEC Freshman of the year, the first in LSU cross country history to win the honor. He set a personal best in the 8K at the SEC Championships with a time of 24:29.2 and won titles at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Festival and the LSU Invitational. He finished in 28th place in his first NCAA Regional event.
Betts was also the Southland Conference Newcomer of the year and ran the third fastest time in the state in the 10K when he clocked a 31:29:10 at the NCAA South Central Regional.
Coach Lovell led Grambling to the SWAC championship in the sports and had two of his runners finish in the top three in the event.
Schuetz earned all NCAA region honors with a 12th place finish at the NCAA South Regional Meet with a personal best 6K time of 20:23.5. She won the Allstate Sugar Bowl Festive with a time of 19:40.6.
Carey was ULM’s fastest runner at the SBC Championships with a 5K time of 21:37.5, while Weber clocked the 10th fastest time in the state in the 6K with a time of 22:04.60 at the NCAA regionals.
Coach Gilroy coached the Cowgirls to a 4th place finish at the SLC Championships and 10th place at the NCAA South Central Regionals with four runners ranked in the top 10 in the state in the 6K event and three in the 5k race.
Besides Braxton and Betts, the men’s team includes Moses Aloiloi of Tulane, Hassan Chepkwony of Grambling, Christian Johnson of LSU, Nathan Jones of McNeese and Beau Robinson of UL-Lafayette. The girls team members joining Schuetz and Carey are Lauren Bartels of Tulane, Gemma Bridge of McNeese, Anna Katherine Devitt of UL-Lafayette, Emma Newton of Tulane, and Katja Woelfl of McNeese.
LSWA All-Louisiana Cross Country Team
MEN
Name, School/Class/Hometown/Notes
Moses Aloiloi, Tulane/So./Kitale, Republic of Kenya/NCAA South Central Reg. participant
Luke Betts, McNeese/Fr./Manchester, UK/3rd fastest time in state in 10K at NCAA Reg., 31:29.10
Dajour Braxton, LSU/Fr./Las Vegas, Nev./SEC Freshman of Year, first in LSU CC history
Hassan Chepkwony, Grambling/Fr./Kenya/SWAC CC Athlete & Freshman of Year, SWAC ind. Champion
Christian Johnson, LSU/Jr./Baton Rouge, La./2-time runner-up; NCAA SC Reg., participant
Nathan Jones, McNeese/So./Rhyl, Wales/2nd team All-SLC; 10th at SLC champ, NCAA Reg. Participant
Beau Robinson, UL-Lafayette/So./Luling, La./1st team All-SBC; 2nd SBC champ, NCAA Reg. Participant
Men’s Runner of the Year – Dajour Braxton – LSU
Votes: Braxton 4; Hassan Chepkwony, Grambling 3; Moses Aloiloi, Tulane 1; Nathan Jones, McNeese 1; Beau Robinson, UL-Lafayette 1.
Men’s Freshman of the Year – Dajour Braxton – LSU
Votes: Braxton 9; Anthony Rizzi, Loyola 1
Men’s Newcomer of the Year – Luke Betts – McNeese
Votes: Betts 9; Christian Johnson, LSU 1
Men’s Coach of the Year – Bertran Lovell, Grambling
Votes: Lovell 9; Brendon Gilroy, McNeese 1
Women
Name, School/Class/Hometown/Notes
Lauren Bartels, Tulane/So./San Antonio, Texas/NCAA South Central Reg. Participant
Gemma Bridge, McNeese/Sr./Oxford, UK/2nd team SLC; 2nd fastest time in state 6k at NCAA Reg.
Colby Carey, ULM/Fr./Natchitoches, La./Fastest finisher on team in SBC Championships
Anna Katherine Devitt, UL-Lafayette/Sr./Baton Rouge, La./2012 LSWA FOY; 2014 LSWA ROY
Emma Newton, Tulane/So./Hollis, N.H./NCAA SC Reg. participant, top Tulane runner at reg.
Morgan Schuetz, LSU/Sr./Baton Rouge, La./All-NCAA South Reg. PR 6K 20:23.5; Won Sugar Bowl
Katja Woelfl, McNeese/So./Ellhofen, Germany/3rd fastest time in state 5K & 6K, NCAA Reg. Participant
Women’s Runner of the Year – Morgan Schuetz, LSU
Votes: Schuetz 8; Gemma Bridge, McNeese 1; Emma Newton, Tulane 1
Freshman of the Year – (tie) Colby Carey, ULM; Leonie Weber, McNeese
Votes: Carey 4, Weber 4; Brianna Pace, Xavier 2.
Coach of the Year – Brendon Gilroy, McNeese
Women’s Honorable Mention
Kacie Kaufman, Louisiana Tech