The Emory University men's and women's cross country teams were recognized by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association on Tuesday following their performance at the South/Southeast region championships this past weekend.

Junior phenom Annika Urban was named the USTFCCCA DIII South/Southeast Female Athlete of the Year after she captured the Regional Championship at Miliken Park in Spartanburg, South Carolina, while Head Coach Linh Nguyen was named both the Men's and Women's Regional Coach of the Year. In his third year with the program, Nguyen led both the men's and women's programs to the Regional Championship, the first time both have won in the same year since 2015.

Urban registered a time of 21:43.1 in the 6k event, winning the title over all participants in the field of 163 runners. Urban becomes the eighth Emory runner to claim the individual regional crown and the first since Gabrielle Stravach won it in 2017. Urban has paced the Eagles in all six races she has competed in this year. In all six races, Urban has finished in the top 10 and has finished in the top two in five out of six of the races.

As the coach of both the men's and women's cross country teams, Nguyen led the men to first place finishes at three meets and led the women's team to two meet wins including the regional championship for both teams. At the South/Southeast Regional, Nguyen coached all seven of the men runners to top-17 finishes while he guided all six of the women's runners to top-13 finishes earning each of the runners All-Region honors.  

Nguyen has spent the past week preparing the men's and women's teams for the NCAA DIII National Championships that are set to take place this Saturday, November 20 in Louisville, Kentucky. The event is set to take place at the EP Tom Sawyer State Park with the men slated to run at 11:00 AM and the women set to start at 12:00 PM.