ST, PAUL, Minn. – Following her squad’s victorious performance at last weekend’s MIAC Championships, Donna Ricks was selected by her peers as the 2013 MIAC Women's Cross Country Coach-of-the-Year.

Ricks, in her 21st season at the helm of the Carleton College program, led her team to an 18-point victory over a pair of nationally-ranked squads and the rest of a talented field at the conference meet. This was the Knights’ second MIAC title in the last three years, their fifth since 2004, and Carleton’s sixth overall MIAC Championship.

This is the latest in a series of conference coaching awards for Ricks. She was previously chosen as the MIAC Cross Country Coach-of-the-Year in 1995, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2011. She also received the MIAC Indoor Track and Field Coach-of-the-Year Award in 2012.

The latest coaching honor for Ricks came courtesy of a tremendous performance by her team last Saturday. Though rival St. Olaf had the first two runners across the finish line, Carleton claimed the title with three in the top 10 and five in the top 18 for a total of 51 points to the Oles' 69. Knights runners finished fifth, sixth, seventh, 15th, 18th, 23rd and 28th Saturday to give Ricks four All-MIAC performers and two more All-MIAC Honorable Mention selections.

As part of a conference-wide sportsmanship initiative, the MIAC announced the eighth annual All-MIAC Sportsmanship team for Women's Cross Country. Members of the All-MIAC Sportsmanship team are selected by their coaches and teammates as individuals who demonstrate ideals of positive sportsmanship both on and off the field of competition. Junior Colette Celichowski (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) was Carleton’s representative on the squad.