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HomeSportsAPSU Cross-Country Teams awarded 2013-14 Team Sportsmanship Awards

APSU Cross-Country Teams awarded 2013-14 Team Sportsmanship Awards

APSU - Austin Peay State University SportsBrentwood, TN – On Thursday the Ohio Valley Conference announced that the Austin Peay State University men’s and women’s cross country teams are the recipients of the 2013-14 Team Sportsmanship Awards in their respective sports.

Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators and fans.

Austin Peay Men's Cross Country. (Jay Medeiros/JC Medeiros Photography)
Austin Peay Men’s Cross Country. (Jay Medeiros/JC Medeiros Photography)

“Without sportsmanship there are truly no meaningful victories,” said Beth DeBauche, OVC Commissioner. “The recipients of the OVC Team Sportsmanship awards should accept this award with great pride for their fellow competitors have made it clear their teams exemplify the best in intercollegiate athletics. In receiving this prestigious honor other competitors are saying these student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents and value fair play. That is quite a compliment as those are all traits that will lead to true victories throughout the course of life.”

The 2013-14 school year marks the ninth year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded. It marks the first award for the APSU programs.

The Austin Peay men’s team finished ninth at the OVC Championship while the women’s team was sixth. The programs also had a noteworthy show of sportsmanship when they picked up the Tennessee State teams, whose bus had broken down, and transported them to Morehead, KY for the Championship.

“Anytime you win this award it is a testament to the character of the individuals associated with our program,” said Austin Peay head coach Doug Molnar. “I like to surround myself with good people and if you do that people will notice. I think the other coaches have noticed the outstanding young men and women student-athletes here at APSU. Integrity is the center-piece of our program and it shows in our students.”

Implemented in August 2005, the team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.

In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a first-of-its-kind “Sportsmanship Statement,” a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one’s opponent. The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics, and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.

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