American Athletic Conference/Mary Holt

Tulsa’s Beattie, Wichita State’s Wright Named 2021 Cross Country Runners Of The Year

12.01.21

IRVING, Texas – The American Athletic Conference has announced the winners of the league’s 2021 Runner of the Year awards for cross country, as voted on by the conference’s cross country head coaches.
 
Both individual cross country champions in The American earned Runner of the Year accolades for the fifth straight season, as Tulsa graduate student Scott Beattie was named the Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Year and Wichita State redshirt senior Yazmine Wright claimed the American Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Year award.
 
American Men’s Runner of the Year
Scott Beattie * Grad * Tulsa
Beattie became the second Tulsa men’s athlete to claim Men’s Runner of the Year honors, joining former teammate Patrick Dever (2020). Beattie’s regular season was highlighted by an 11th-place showing at the Cowboy Jamboree 8K with a time of 24:07.7 and 18th place at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational 8K with a time of 23:45.7. After finishing as the runner-up the previous three seasons, Beattie captured first place at the 2021 American Athletic Conference 8K Championship with a time of 23:49.2. Beattie added all-region honors with a third-place showing (30:23.2) at the NCAA Midwest Regional 10K and took 58th place in the 10K at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships (29:45.2).
 
American Women’s Runner of the Year
Yazmine Wright * R-Sr. * Wichita State
Wright earned the fourth straight Women’s Runner of the Year award for Wichita State (Winny Koskei, 2018-20) after turning in a dominant campaign as a redshirt senior. Wright was a three-time winner during the regular season, taking first place at the Wichita State JK Gold Classic 5K (17:34.1), the Gans Creek Classic 6K (20:53.9) and the Bradley Pink Classic 6K (20:35.6). Wright picked up all-conference accolades for the third straight season by bringing home the gold medal at the 2021 American Athletic Conference 6K Championship with a winning time of 21:03.3. Wright capped the season with an all-region scroll and 17th-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional 6K with a time of 21:11.1.