ARLINGTON, Texas – The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) announced its 2023 cross country major award winners on Tuesday.
 
California Baptist’s Arturs Medveds was voted the WAC Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year by the conference’s 11 head coaches, while teammate Valentin Soca earned WAC Men’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year by way of a strong conference championships finish. CBU head coach Adam Tribble was voted by his peers as the WAC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year. On the women’s side, CBU’s Greta Karinauskaite was voted the WAC Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year by conference head coaches, while UT Arlington’s Matro Jepkemboi captured WAC Women’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year accolades based on conference championships placement. Utah Valley head coach Scott Houle was voted by his peers as the WAC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
 
Medveds, a graduate student, posted a pair of key top-five finishes for conference champion CBU thus far this season. Medveds finished fourth at the Griak Invitational on Sept. 22 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, clocking an 8K time of 24:10.8. Medveds was one of three CBU finishers across the finish line in near symmetry to capture the 2023 WAC Men’s Cross Country Championship on Oct. 27 at Zoe Park in Abilene, registering an 8K time of 23:38.0 to secure both an individual and team title for the Lancers.
 
Soca, a redshirt freshman, has enjoyed a successful debut season for CBU in cross country. Soca scored a sixth-place finish at the Griak Invitational (24:16.1) and finished in near lockstep with teammates Medveds and Giedrus Valincius, officially in third place (23:38.1), at the 2023 WAC Cross Country Championships.
 
Tribble guided CBU to a fourth straight men’s team and individual championship at the WAC cross country meet, with the Lancers scoring 17 points as a team to continue its conference championship streak. CBU men’s cross country enters NCAA Regional competition on Nov. 10 as the top-ranked team in the West Region and the fourth-ranked squad in the nation according to the USTFCCCA.
 
Karinauskaite has recorded two individual meet victories thus far in the 2023 season, placing first in the Griak Invitational 6K (20:27.6) before a dominant win of more than 30 seconds in the WAC Women’s Championship 6K (19:49.9). The conference championship marked Karinauskaite’s third straight podium finish at the WAC meet and her first league cross country individual title.
 
Jepkemboi burst onto the scene for UT Arlington with five top-10 individual finishes entering NCAA Regional competition in her debut season. Jepkemboi was the runner-up at the Gerald Richey UTA Invitational 3.12M on Sept. 9 (17:22.2) and the Texas A&M Invitational 5K on Sept. 15 (17:24.2) and added the fastest WAC 6K time of the season in a fifth place showing at the Arturo Barrios Invite on Oct. 13 (19:49.2). Jepkemboi placed fourth in the WAC Championships 6K with a time of 20:33.5.
 
Houle led Utah Valley to its fourth WAC Women’s Cross Country Championship since 2015 with a stellar showing at Zoe Park that saw the Wolverines claim five top-10 slots to score 30 team points and best runner-up CBU by six points. Utah Valley was rated fifth in the Mountain Region and 22nd in the nation by the USTFCCA on the eve of NCAA Regionals on Nov. 10.
 
2023 WAC Cross Country Awards
 
MEN’S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Arturs Medveds, Grad, California Baptist
 
MEN’S FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Valentin Soca, R-Fr., California Baptist
 
MEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR
Adam Tribble, California Baptist
 
WOMEN’S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Greta Karinauskaite, Sr., California Baptist
 
WOMEN’S FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Matro Jepkemboi, Fr., UT Arlington
 
WOMEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR
Scott Houle, Utah Valley