Women's Cross Country

MIAC announces 2025 Women’s Cross Country Awards

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) announced its annual award winners for women's cross country on Thursday. 
 
Carleton first-year Claire Vukovics was celebrated as both the Rookie of the Year and Athlete of the Year, while her head coach, Donna Ricks, was named MIAC Coach of the Year. The MIAC also recognized its All-Conference and Honorable Mention runners from last Saturday's conference meet.
 
Vukovics (Fy./St. Paul, Minn./Highland Park) received both MIAC Athlete and Rookie of the Year honors for women's cross country after becoming the first first-year runner in 12 years to win the conference meet, crossing the finish line in 21:21.4. Vukovics ran the fifth-fastest 6K time in MIAC Championship history on her way to the title. She is the sixth different Knight since 2011 to be named MIAC Athlete of the Year in women's cross country, and the second Carleton runner - joining teammate and 2025 MIAC runner-up Hannah Preisser - to be named the Women's Cross Country Rookie of the Year.
 
Ricks (33rd season) was recognized by her peers as the MIAC Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year for the 14th time in her career after guiding the Knights to their ninth conference title in the last 12 seasons. Carleton scored 30 points at the 2025 MIAC Championships and finished with the largest margin of victory at the conference meet in more than three decades, besting the rest of the field by 50 points. Six of Rick's runners placed among the top 15 finishers, four landed among the top ten, and Vukovics and Preisser finished first and second, respectively. Ricks is the only coach in MIAC women's cross country history to be honored with double-digit Coach of the Year selections.
 
In addition to the top individual honors, the MIAC Women's Cross Country All-Conference and Honorable Mention runners were also recognized. The top 15 finishers in Saturday's MIAC Championship race received All-Conference honors, while finishers 16-25 received Honorable Mention.
 
Eight of this year's 15 All-Conference honorees were also All-MIAC or honorable mention in 2024, with Carleton's Hannah Preisser and St. Olaf's Lauren Walda becoming just the 15th and 16th women in recorded conference history to earn four consecutive All-Conference honors in women's cross country. The MIAC had not had a four-time All-Conference honoree in women's cross country since the 2018 season, and this is just the third time in history - and the first time since 2009 - that multiple women earned the distinction.
 
A complete list of 2025 women's cross country honorees can be found below.
 
| 2025 MIAC Women's Cross Country Awards |