Feb. 1, 2010

(San Francisco) - The USF Cross Country/Track and Field teams hosted their 2009 end of season banquets Sunday, where they named their season Athlete of the Year Awards and had the chance to listen to guest speaker two time Olympian Bolota Asmerom.

Asmerom, a local from Mc Ateer HS in San Francisco was a qualifier for the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, as well as the World Championships teams in 2001, 2003, and 2004. He owns personal bests of 3:40 (1500), 7:45 (3000) and 13:31 (5000).

Sophomore Hillary Kigar, who earned All WCC honors and led the Dons to their first ever West Coast Conference title this past fall, was named Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year. Kigar set a USF best of 17:22 at the Bronco Invitational and her time of 21:22 at the WCC Championships was the second fastest 6k in program history. Kigar concluded her cross country season with a 49th place finish at the NCAA Western Region Championships.

Sophomore Ganbileg Bor was named Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row. During the 2009 season, Bor led the Dons in every meet turning in four top ten performances. At the WCC Championships, he finished third place in 25:06, sixth on the all-time WCC list, earning all-conference honors for the second year in a row.

Hillary Kigar and Ganbileg Bor

Junior Nicole Bowler was named Female Track Athlete of the Year. During the 2009 season, Bowler set four USF school records in the 800m, 1500m, mile and 3000m steeplechase. Bowler qualified for NCAA Regionals in both the 1500 and the 3000m steeplechase with marks of 4:26.72 and 10:43 respectively. Bowler was finalist at the NCAA Regionals in the 1500 meters.

Sophomore Jesus Romo was named Male Track Athlete of the Year after having a breakthrough season improving by 43 seconds in the 3000m steeplechase, posting a personal best of 9:06.38. Romo become the second male in program history to qualify for the NCAA Regional Championships.

Also honored at the banquet was sophomore Jeremy Grace, who was presented with the Scholar Athlete Award for his excellence in the classroom. Grace currently carries a 3.93 cum GPA and earned a 4.0 in back to back semesters during the 2009 track and cross country seasons. Grace set the USF school record in the 10k last spring and was the number two runner for the Dons at the NCAA Regional Championships this past fall.

Seniors recognized during the evening for their contributions to the Dons programs over the past four years included Briana Junior, Michelle Born, Christine Jowaiszas, Laurel Kleiber, Mary Verran and Alex Nelson.