Abdi, Magnani Take Big 12 Honors

November 22, 2016 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

Smith takes Big 12 Men's Coach of the Year for eighth time

IRVING, Texas – For the second consecutive year, Oklahoma State has taken the Women's Big 12 Cross Country Newcomer of the Year Award with Michelle Magnani winning it for the 2016 season, and Hassan Abdi was recognized as the Runner of the Year, the conference announced Tuesday.

Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Dave Smith was also recognized by the conference as he was voted the men's Coach of the Year for the eighth time in nine years.

The one year he did not win the honor in the conference, he won it for women's Coach of the Year in 2015.

Smith led the Cowboys to a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships, a sixth-straight regional title and ninth-straight Big 12 crown.

Two Cowboys picked up All-America honors, and five earned all-region and all-conference honors.

Abdi earned the award after a historic debut season in Division I cross country.

He ran in four events as a member of the Cowboy lineup and finished top-five in three of them, including a third-place finish at the Big 12 Championships.

The junior-college transfer earned All-America (16th-place) and all-region (fourth place) honors, as well, making him the highest finishing Cowboy at an NCAA Championship since Craig Nowak in 2014, and the third Cowboy since 2013 to finish exactly 16th at the Championship race.

True freshman Michelle Magnani took the women's honor for her impressive season that was stunted by an injury just before the NCAA Championships.

Magnani ran as the Cowgirl No. 1 or No. 2 for most of the season, breaking into the squad after a runner-up finish at the Cowboy Jamboree where she ran unattached.

The California native went on to be the top-finishing freshman at the Big 12 Championship, taking seventh, and earned all-region honors with a 13th-place finish at the race in Iowa City.

Magnani joins a list with the likes of NCAA Champion German Fernandez, two-time All-American Josh Thompson, Olympian Ingeborg Loevnes and All-American Monika Juodeskaite as OSU's latest Newcomers of the Year.

For the complete list of season awards, visit Big12Sports.com.