Wednesday, December 3, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore.  – Brit Townsend, who led Simon Fraser to GNAC and NCAA Division II West Region women’s cross country team titles this fall, has been voted the GNAC Women’s Team Coach of the Year.

Alaska Anchorage’s Michael Friess earned the award, which is voted on by the league’s coaches, for the men’s teams.  He led the UAA men to its fifth straight conference title with a GNAC-record low point total of 18.

Both coaches qualified both their men’s and women’s teams for this Saturday’s NCAA National Championships in Louisville, Kent. The men's race will start at 8 a.m. (PST) followed by the women's race at 9:15 a.m.  The races will be streamed live on ncaa.com.

The Coach of the Year award is the first for Townsend since the Clan started competing in the GNAC championship meet in 2011.  In each of the previous three years, Townsend led her women’s squad to second-place finishes.

Townsend, who is in her 15th season as SFU’s head coach, had great success at the NAIA level prior to SFU joining the  GNAC and NCAA, winning five consecutive NAIA national titles between 2003 and 2007.

SFU edged defending champion UAA by one point and Western Washington by two points in winning the GNAC women’s title Nov. 1 at Monmouth, Ore., with a team score of 62. 

The margin was a bit bigger in the regional  meet Nov. 22 at Billings, Mont., as the Clan claimed the title outpointing CCAA champion Chico State 103-112.  That victory also earned Townsend NCAA West Region Coach of the Year honors.  Alaska Anchorage finished third in the regional meet with 144 points.

Townsend also led the SFU men to its best season since joining the GNAC and the NCAA.  The Clan men finished third for the second year in a row, matching its best finish. 

SFU followed that up with a sixth-place finish in the West Regional to earn its first trip to the NCAA national meet.  In its previous two regional meets, Simon Fraser finished 13^th and 10^th, respectively.

Friess will be sending both his men’s team, which finished second in the regional meet, and his women’s team to the national meet for the seventh year in a row.  Last year, the Seawolves finished seventh in the men’s national championship and fourth in the women’s national meet.

Friess’ GNAC Cross Country Coach of the Year award is an unprecedented 16^th, including eight in the men’s division.  He also was voted the men’s team coach in the year in 2002, 2005, 2008 and every year since 2010.

He also has won the women’s team award eight times (2003 through 2005 and 2009 through 2013).

Friess, who is in his 25^th season as UAA’s head coach after graduating from Linfield in 1985, also was the PacWest Men’s Team Coach in the Year in 1997 before the formation of the GNAC.