STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford's Chris Miltenberg and Elizabeth DeBole were named NCAA West Region Cross Country Coaches of the Year on Tuesday as selected by their peers in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Miltenberg, in his fifth year, and DeBole, in her first, led the Cardinal to regional titles on Friday, giving Stanford its first West sweep since 2004. Both programs advance to the NCAA Championships for the 23rd consecutive year, an ongoing record.
Miltenberg, Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field, receives the Dean Miller Award as the men's winner. This is his second West Cross Country Coach of the Year honor. He won it in 2013 after earning three Mid-Atlantic Assistant Coach of the Year honors in his days at Georgetown.
Miltenberg is the fifth different Stanford coach to win the men's award. Stanford has won it 10 times overall since it was first awarded, in 1998.
DeBole wins the Tom Heinonen Award as the region's women's winner. She is the fourth different Stanford coach to win and gives the Cardinal eight such honors overall. She is Stanford's first women's coach to win since Peter Tegen in 2007.
The Stanford men were favored at the regional meet in Sacramento and outran runner-up Portland, 75-90, to earn their first title since 2013. Sean McGorty led a 9-10-11 finish for Stanford, which placed its five scorers in the top 23 with all within 13 seconds of each other.
The the Cardinal women pulled a slight upset over then-No. 4 Washington, 71-88, for their first regional title since 2007. Stanford placed five in the top 20, including three freshmen, while Vanessa Fraser led the team in seventh place.
Each team won its 15th regional title and continues on to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana, the women for the 24th consecutive year and the men for the 23rd. The Stanford men are ranked No. 3 and the women No. 4.
