Alabama Track and Field Trio Earn SEC Runner of the Year Honors

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A trio of Alabama track and field student-athletes have been honored with Southeastern Conference "of the year" accolades by a vote of the SEC head coaches, the league office announced Wednesday.

Tamara Clark was voted the SEC Women's Outdoor Runner of the Year, Amaris Tyynismaa was named the SEC Women's Outdoor Newcomer Runner of the Year and Eliud Kipsang was voted the SEC Men's Outdoor Freshman Runner of the Year.

Clark won SEC titles in both the 100 meters and 200 meters, turning in the fastest all-conditions time in NCAA history in the 200 meters. Tyynismaa placed in the top five in both the 1,500 meters and the 5,000 meters at the SEC Championships. Kipsang was the SEC champion in the 1,500 meters and runner-up in the 800 meters. Kipsang and Tyynismaa have broken the school record in the men's and women's 1,500-meter records, respectively.

Head Coach Dan Waters Said

"As a program, we are in the midst of a really special season, and these honors go to show that people are noticing. We are very proud of Tamara, Amaris and Eliud for all they've accomplished to this point in the season and we're excited to see how they finish things off at next week's NCAA Championships in Eugene."

Alabama and SEC Outdoor "of the Year" Awards

Tamara Clark is the first UA woman to be named SEC Runner of the Year, and only the third Alabama student-athlete to earn SEC "of the Year" honors following Beth Mallory, who was named SEC Field Athlete of the Year in 2005, and Chealsea Taylor, who was the SEC Freshman Field Athlete of the Year in 2006
Eliud Kipsang is the second member of the Alabama men's team to earn SEC Freshman Runner of the Year following NCAA and Olympic champion Kirani James, who earned the recognition in 2010
Amaris Tyynismaa earned the inaugural SEC Newcomer Runner of the Year, which was instituted following the cancelation of the 2020 SEC outdoor season due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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University of Alabama Athletics