TROY, N.Y. - The Liberty League has announced its year-end women's cross country award recipients and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athlete Morgan Lee has been chosen as the Runner of the Year. Additionally, 12th-year head coach John Lynch and his assistants have been selected as the Coaching Staff of the Year.

A senior captain, Lee (Edgewater, MD / South River) ran in six races this season and boasted top-8 finishes in each. She won twice with one runner-up while also placing seventh twice and eighth once. 
 

School 6k record seventh place of 293 competitors at NCAA Championship (22:09.4) ... All-America ... First of 159 at NCAA Mideast Regional (22:10.9) ... All-Region ... Mideast Region Athlete of the Year ... First of 94 at Liberty League Championship (22:00.9) ... All-Liberty League First Team ... Second of 319 at Rowan Inter-Regional (21:22.0) ... Seventh of 395 at multi-divisional Paul Short Run (College) with personal-best 6k of 21:05.8 ... Eighth of 165 at multi-divisional Siena College Invitational with personal-best 5k of 18:33.8 ... Liberty League Performer of the Week five times.

Lee, the conference Rookie of the Year in 2021 who played two years of field hockey, is the second member of the Engineers to earn Runner of the Year in the past two seasons, following Nia Goddard in 2021 (the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). She is the fourth RPI honoree in the last six seasons with Andrea Squeri being named in 2018 and Jaime Lord in 2016 and fifth in the last nine years (Grace Tilton in 2013). No other school has more than two recipients in that span.

Lynch has now led the Coaching Staff of the Year four times in the last seven seasons, which is also more than any other program. This year's honor comes after Rensselaer won two events, including the Liberty League Championship, had a runner-up finish, and two third place finishes. The Engineers were third at the NCAA Mideast Regional and 23rd at the national championship meet for which they earned an at-large bid.

Four student-athletes earned All-Liberty League recognition and eight weekly awards were collected, including three Rookies of the Week. The team consisted of six seniors, four juniors, five sophomores, and six first-year students.

Joining Lynch on the staff are Karina Bolton '19, Ben Fazio '17, Allison Thayer '18, and Austin Turner '19.