By Jacob Most

Nov. 14, 2012 –

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Cally Macumber picked up yet another award when she was named Southeast Region Women’s Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Wednesday.

Macumber, the 2012 SEC Women’s Runner of the Year, gathered the regional award after winning three races this season, including two-straight postseason meets.

The Rochester Hills, Mich., native earned Kentucky’s first SEC individual title since 1989 by traversing the 6K course in a time of 20:23.29. She was then victorious at the NCAA Southeast Regional by a margin of more than three seconds. 

Macumber has placed among the top-10 in every meet in which she has competed this year, including an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Pre-National Meet. She owns the top 5K and 6K SEC regular season times for 2012 as well.

The junior in cross country was a First-Team All-SEC performer, as well as a member of the All-Southeast Region Team.

Macumber qualified for the 2012 NCAA Championships, and will be joined at the meet by Chelsea Oswald and Luis Orta on the men’s side. 

The trio will be the first Wildcats to compete in the NCAA Cross Country Championships since Kentucky qualified as a team in 2008. They are the first individual qualifiers for the Wildcats since Allison Grace in 2005. Kentucky has already competed in two meets at Sawyer Park, this year’s NCAA Championships host, this season.

The women’s team improved their overall finish by eight spots from last season, and the men placed four spots higher than in 2011.

The NCAA Championships will take place in Louisville on Saturday, Nov. 17.