DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton men’s cross country team held its annual awards banquet at the UD Arena Time Warner Flight Deck Friday to celebrate its 2011 season and recognize individual award winners.

Freshman Michael Russell, of Brookfield, Wisc., earned the team’s Most Improved Runner honor, which is given to the Flyer student-athlete who improved the most from the beginning of the season to the end.

“Michael’s placing consistently improved each time he raced the 8K distance.  He improved from sixth man at the National Catholic to fifth man at Pre-Nationals, and finally as third man in the A-10 Championships,” said UD Head Coach Rich Davis. “At the A-10 Championships he held tempo to 8K with a 25:24 finish time, a 51-second improvement over his season opening 8K.”

Junior Stephen Mackell, of Findlay, Ohio, took home the High Flyer honor, which recognizes the student-athlete who embodies the traits that UD stands for, including: team leadership and high levels of academic achievement. The award is presented only once during a student's four years of athletic eligibility.

“During his junior year, Stephen met all the expectations of being the team’s ‘High Flyer’: academic achievement, team leadership and service to the University and the Dayton community,” said Davis. “Stephen was a significant influence in 2011 by creating a team environment which showed everyone what can be accomplished through hard work.”

Redshirt junior Greg Roeth, of Miamisburg, Ohio, was selected as UD’s Most Valuable Runner, awarded to the runner who was most vital to the team's success.

“Greg had an amazingly consistent season, running in first position for the Flyers at every meet and earning Atlantic 10 All-Conference status for the second consecutive year,” said Davis. “He ran his Personal Best 8K time of 24:28 at the Atlantic 10 Championships. This is the fourth fastest Personal Best time in team history and one of the eight Top 50 All-Time Flyer 8K Performances.

“Greg ran a Personal Best 10K time of 31:24 at the Great Lakes Regional,” added Davis. “This is the sixth fastest 10 K performance in team history and is one of the three Top 25 All-Time Flyer 10K Performances.”

Dayton returns every runner for the 2012 cross country season.