For the first time in the history of the program, the Skyhawk cross-country team boasts an Ohio Valley Conference Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year Award after senior Ryan Ford captured the honor following the conclusion of the OVC Championship on Mar. 1. The award is decided by a vote of the league head coaches.
The Huntsville, Alabama native posted a strong 2020-21 season, with two OVC Runner of the Week honors already under his belt for the season. Ford started the season by leading the Skyhawks to a win in the Redhawks XC Invite on Jan. 23, posting an 8k time of 24:16.4. Ford’s effort in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, helped him secure his first individual title of the season.
Though the Skyhawk men’s team struggled two weeks later in the Florida State University Winter Classic, placing 18th among 20 schools, Ford still placed 16th out of 143 runners and recorded a personal record 23:54.6 in the 8k, which ranks third-fastest in program history.
In the Skyhawks final race before the OVC Championship, Ford once again led the Skyhawks to another win, this time at the Golden Eagle Invitational on Feb. 19 – a day that was plagued by snow and mud. Nevertheless, Ford led all runners with an 8k time of 22:41.8, beating out his closest competitor by 38 seconds. This is where Ford picked up his second individual weekly honor.
Ford’s performance dropped slightly in the OVC Championship, recording a 26:51.3 time and placing fourth overall while the Skyhawks themselves finished 4th out of 11. Ultimately, Ford’s performance was enough to warrant his second All-OVC first team honor – his first since 2018. In addition, Ford’s time ranks second in UTM history in the event.
“I still think this is the best season we have had as a team when you look at the season as a whole,” Ford said. “Then when you look at it as an individual, for me, it was my best season. A lot of times we are running our indoor (track) season right now and our focus is a lot different trying to prepare for the outdoor season, but instead we had to ramp it up for cross country. I think we will be able to turn this into a record-breaking outdoor season. We obviously had some ups and downs, but we had a record-breaking season because we had a great group of guys that just wanted to make it happen.”
