The Big West announced its slate of cross country honorees for the 2005 season on Thursday, as UC Santa Barbara junior Chris Ashley earned the award for men's cross country Athlete of the Year. Cal Poly head coach Mark Conover won the award for men's Coach of the Year for guiding the Mustangs to their third consecutive Big West Championship, while Alex Dunn of Cal Poly received the award for men's Freshman of the Year. UC Irvine swept the women's honors with Amber Steen earning Athlete of the Year, Laura Olvera bringing in the Freshman of the Year award, and Vince O'Boyle taking home Coach of the Year recognition.

Ashley was the individual champion at the Big West championship meet with a course record time of 23:51.7, which was more than 10 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. His finishing time also marked a season-best for the junior. Ashley earned All-Big West honors with a fourth place finish in the conference championship in 2004. Ashley is the third Gaucho to earn the top men's cross country honor, joining Brad Glosser (1995) and Eric Gans (2001).

Dunn becomes the inaugural winner of the newly established Freshman of the Year award. He finished in ninth overall and was Cal Poly's fifth runner at the 2005 conference championship meet, running the 8,000 meter distance in 24:17.7. Dunn also impacted the squad earlier in the season, leading Cal Poly to an 11th place team finish at the prestigious Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind. Dunn placed first among Cal Poly runners in that meet with a time of 24:35.

Conover has guided the Mustangs to Big West team titles in each of the last three years and notched his fourth men's coach of the year award. He also was honored for the 2000 season. Conover is tied for second all-time in the Big West record books with his four awards. His squads have been regularly ranked in the national top 25. The Mustangs are currently No. 24 in the MONDO poll.

Steen completed the 6,000 meter course with a 20:55.5 mark to win the Big West individual title. Her finish was a personal 6K season-best for the senior and also established a Big West season-best finish. A former local standout at Newport Harbor High School, Amber transferred from Arizona to UCI this year. Steen is the 11th different UCI athlete to capture the conference's top individual honor. Steen collected three other top 15 finishes during the regular season, including placing 13th out of 138 runners at the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem, Ore. on Oct. 1. She earned Big West Co-Athlete of the Week honors for that performance.

Olvera gave the Anteaters a one-two finish at the Big West meet as she captured second place with a personal-best time of 21:00.3. The redshirt freshman was named Big West Athlete of the Week Sept. 14 after finishing third out of 179 runners with a time of 18:38.7 over 5,000 meters in the UCI Invitational at Central Park in Huntington Beach Sept. 10. That time eclipsed her mark by nearly two minutes from last season when she ran the same course unattached.

O'Boyle earned his 20th Big West Coach of the Year award (12 women's cross country, seven men's cross country and one women's track and field) for guiding the Anteaters to their first women's conference championship title since 1999. In 24 years at UC Irvine, O'Boyle's 12 women's cross country coach of the year plaques is a Big West record. This year's title was the 12th for the women's cross country program in O'Boyle's tenure.

2005 Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year
Chris Ashley, UC Santa Barbara

2005 Men's Cross Country Freshman of the Year
Alex Dunn, Cal Poly

2005 Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year
Mark Conover, Cal Poly

2005 Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year
Amber Steen, UC Irvine

2005 Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year
Laura Olvera, UC Irvine

2005 Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year
Vince O'Boyle, UC Irvine