SPOKANE, Wash. - Alaska Anchorage's head cross country coach Michael Friess was awarded his seventh Great Northwest Athletic Conference's Coach of the Year award after leading the Seawolf women's team to a perfect season.
Friess, selected as the 2009 women's GNAC Coach of the Year, has now won eight cross country Coach-of-the-Year awards (seven in the GNAC) and 10 total during his 20-year career at Anchorage.
Friess, a 1985 Linfield College graduate, was also voted the GNAC Men's Coach of the Year in 2002, 2005 and 2008 and was selected as the GNAC Women's Coach of the Year for three consecutive seasons between 2003 and 2005. He was also named the PacWest Men's Coach of the Year in 1997 and the GNAC Outdoor Track and Field Men's Coach-of-the-Year in both 2008 and 2009.
Last week, Friess registered his first ever West Region Coach of the Year accolade after his women's team won its first-ever region title.
Heading into the 2009 NCAA Div. II Cross Country Championships on Nov. 21, the Seawolf women are undefeated this season and hold a program-best No. 3 ranking. The men's team, ranked No. 19, will also be making their second consecutive appearance at the NCAAs.
