Soldotna’s Allie Ostrander was named the Division I West Region Women’s Athlete of the Year Tuesday by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
The Boise State freshman has won four of her five collegiate races this season for the Broncos, including last Friday’s West Region Championships by 22 seconds in Seattle, Washington. The win helped the Broncos women’s team finish second — just one point behind team champions Oregon — and qualify for the Division I National Championships this weekend for only the second time ever in school history.
Ostrander is the first Boise State cross country runner to earn the Athlete of the Year honor since Emma Bates in 2013, and among this years nine region recipients, Ostrander is the lone underclassman.
Boise State coach Corey Ihmels was also named West Region Women’s Coach of the Year, his second straight West Region coaching honor and fifth overall (along with three straight Coach of the Year awards while at Iowa State from 2010 to 2012).
The nation’s best cross country runners will compete Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky, for the Division I nationals. The women’s race begins at noon ET (8 a.m. AKST) while the men start at 1 p.m. ET (9 a.m.)
