HIGH POINT, N.C. - The High Point University men's and women's cross country programs took home a bevy of awards during the Big South Championship awards ceremony held Saturday on the campus of Gardner-Webb University.

HPU junior Jeff LaCoste was named 2014 Big South Runner of the Year after capturing the individual league crown in a course-record time of 24:59.30. After placing second at the 2013 Big South Championship, the first-place finish Saturday put him in the great company of previous HPU individual winners Jacob Smith (2012) and Patrick Crawford (2013).

"It's a great feeling for a runner from our team to win this three years in a row," LaCoste said. "To see Pat [Crawford] after the race, it was so nice to give him a big hug and carry on that tradition of winning the individual title. Hopefully we'll carry it into next year's meet as well."

Men's cross country head coach Mike Esposito was honored with the second Big South Coach of the Year accolade of his career after winning as head coach of the women's program in 2011. The 10-year head coach of the program led HPU to first-place finishes in three of the four major events the team competed in during the 2014 regular season.

One of the reasons why I'm here at High Point is because of Coach Esposito," women's cross country head coach Jenna Wrieden said. "He sets such a great example for our program and for him to finally get the win was so wonderful. We all knew that was coming. To be able to match that and be a part of that on both sides was very humbling. I couldn't ask to be in a better place or with better people. I'm very proud of our programs."

Wrieden earned the first Big South Coach of the Year honor of her career after leading the Panthers to victory Saturday. The HPU women's program also won the Big South preview event - the Gardner-Webb Invite - in September.

"I'm very happy for Coach Wrieden and her girls," Esposito said. "I knew we had the ability to win, but to their credit, the girls have really rallied and came together today. Coach Wrieden is an incredible asset to our program at High Point."

Academically, senior Reece Ayers was named the Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He is the third men's cross country runner in HPU history to win the award, joining Tamas Kovacs (2007) and Neal Darmody (2011). Ayers carries a GPA of 3.747 and is majoring in business administration.

In addition, junior Julia Zautcke was named to the Big South All-Academic Team. Zautcke is majoring in biochemistry at HPU and holds an impressive GPA of 3.950.

Ayers also earned all-conference honors after finishing eighth on Saturday in a strong time of 25:49.40. The showing was his best conference finish by both time and place and ensured he would finish in the top-20 in all four Big South meets of his career.

Ayers was one of six all-conference picks for the men's team, setting a new program record for all-conference selections in a season. In addition to Ayers and LaCoste, senior Chris Colo, junior Paddy Grandinali and freshman James Quattlebaum and Ryan Udvadia also earned all-conference accolades. LaCoste and Grandinali also were named all-conference last season.

Colo continued his outstanding senior campaign with a third-place showing in a strong time of 25:05.40 at the Big South meet. The Waxhaw, N.C., native improved 16 spots from his 19th-place finish in 2013. Quattlebaum just missed out on Big South Freshman of the Year honors after posting an impressive fifth-place finish (25:24.90) in his first conference meet. Udvadia notched his third top-10 of the season, placing 10th in 25:57.90. Grandinali, who battled a nagging injury all week, matched his 2013 showing with a 12th-place finish (25:58.90).

On the women's side, sophomore Natalia Ocasio and freshman Kelly Hayes also were named all-conference after posting top-10 finishes Saturday. Ocasio ran arguably the best 5K of her career en route to a ninth-place finish in a collegiate-best time of 18:50.05. Hayes was right behind in 10th and also set a college personal best with a time of 18:51.83.

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