San Antonio – Trinity's Derick Lawrence has been named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in both men's and women's cross country.

Coach Lawrence led the Tiger men's and women's teams to their first-ever SCAC Championships last month, including a women's race that ended in a perfect score for Trinity.  Prior to this year, cross country was the only sport that Trinity had never won the conference title.  The men's team had finished second four different times, while the women were runners-up five times in school history.

This season's SCAC Championship meet saw Trinity's women secure each of the top five spots individually to earn a score of 15 – the lowest score possible.  It marked the first women's team in SCAC history to earn a perfect score.  The women finished with nine All-SCAC performers, while the men's team had eight runners earn All-SCAC. 

Vanessa Moreno was the SCAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year, winning the women's race on October 27.  On the men's side, Taylor Piske was the SCAC Men's Freshman of the Year for 2012.

Coach Lawrence is the first coach since 2006 to sweep both the men's and women's Coach of the Year honors.  The Tigers will compete at the NCAA South/Southeast Regional Championships this weekend in Atlanta, Georgia.  The top two teams in the meet will advance to the NCAA Division III Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana.  The top seven runners not on the top two teams will also receive invitations to the national meet.