FROM STAFF REPORTS

First-year University of Montevallo women’s cross country head coach Tommy Barksdale was named the Southeast Region women’s Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Barksdale becomes just the second coach of a women’s program at Montevallo to be named region Coach of the Year since the Falcons joined the NCAA. Barksdale joins women’s soccer head coach Patricia Hughes as the only coaches of Montevallo women’s programs to be named region Coach of the Year.

Hughes won the award in 2007 as she led her team to the NCAA South Region championship match and a Gulf South Conference tournament championship.

Barksdale and the Montevallo women’s cross country team will become the first women’s team in school history to advance to an NCAA championship event as they travel to Spokane, Wash. on Nov. 19 to compete at the NCAA Division II Championships.

Barksdale led Montevallo to a second-place finish at the Southeast Region championship race, improving from a 13th-place showing in 2010. The team also became the first women’s program at Montevallo to win a Peach Belt Conference Championship earlier this season.