NEW ORLEANS, La. (November 20, 2018) – Northern Arizona University's men's cross country head coach
Michael Smith has been awarded the Bill Dellinger Award by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) for the second season in a row after leading the team to its third straight NCAA Division I national title.
Smith joins Mark Wetmore (2013-14), Dave Smith (2009-10), Vin Lananna (2007-09, 1996-97) and John McDonnell (1998-2000) as the only coaches to have won this award in back-to-back years.
Earlier this season Smith was awarded the Big Sky Conference Men's Coach of the Year Award after the Lumberjacks claimed the conference title for the third year straight.
The Lumberjacks were ranked no. 1 in the USTFCCCA's National Coaches' Poll throughout the 2018 season and went undefeated in 2018. The NAU men came in first at every meet they competed in this season including the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational, Wisconsin Pre-Nationals and at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships.
After taking first at the NCAA National Championships event with a total team score of only 83 points NAU's men's squad became the first NCAA Division I team to claim a three-peat since Arkansas accomplished the feat from 1998 to 2000.
Smith and his staff coached six All-Americans this season.
Matt Baxter,
Geordie Beamish,
Tyler Day,
Blaise Ferro,
Luis Grijalva and
Peter Lomong were all honored as All-Americans after each runner finished in the top-40 individually at nationals.
This will be the third time that the head coach for NAU men's cross country has received the award. In 2016 the man who Smith would eventually supersede as leader of the Lumberjacks, Eric Heins, also received the award after leading NAU to its first ever national title in any sport.
Coach Smith has helped to assure that the culture that has been created over the years within the NAU track & field and cross country program has continued to thrive and grow.
