Duvall Named SEC Freshman of the Year
LEXINGTON, Kentucky – Matt Duvall of the Kentucky cross country team has been named the Southeastern Conference Men’s Freshman Runner of the Year, the league office announced Monday.
Duvall is the first Wildcat – male or female – to win the award since it was inaugurated during the 2000 season. Hakon DeVries, Kentucky assistant coach who oversees the cross country team and the UK distance runners, said that Duvall will have a special perspective on the honor.
“Matt’s going to be excited about winning this award, but I promise you that he was more excited about the number of teammates he had on the Freshman All-SEC team (three, including himself) and how that builds our team for the future,” DeVries said. “The body of work he put in from August through October, how consistent he was, and the hard work he put in, culminated in this award.”
DeVries saw those team-oriented traits when helping recruit Duvall from Pickerington North High School (Pickerington, Ohio) to UK.
“In the recruiting process, Matt was more interested in the team we were building instead of what we could do for him individually,” DeVries said. “You could see that he was not only the best runner on his (high school) team, but he was the leader of his team and he brought that with him in dealing with his teammates here.”
It’s certainly appropriate that Duvall won this recognition, as he was UK’s top finisher and earned an accolade from the league following all three of his races this season.
Duvall wasted no time making his mark on the collegiate level, winning his first competition at the Commodore Classic on Sept. 19. He clocked a time of 24:34.5 while also leading the Wildcats to the meet championship, UK’s first team win since 2018. For his individual victory, he was named SEC Co-Runner of the Week.
“That (win) opened my eyes in terms of just how good a fall he could have,” DeVries said. “Matt was the state champion in high school, where you run 5,000 meters. When you come to college, it’s 8k and it’s difficult to run that hard for about 10 (extra) minutes, but he took that challenge head-on.”
On Oct. 3, Duvall led the Wildcats and placed fifth overall at the “Live in Lou” Classic in Louisville. His time of 23:51 is the fastest 8,000-meter time of any SEC freshman this year. He collected SEC Freshman of the Week for that performance.
Duvall concluded the campaign on Oct. 30 at the SEC Championships in Baton Rouge. He finished 15th overall with a time of 24:27.1 and earned a spot on the Freshman All-SEC Team, along with teammates Ethan Kern and Harper Moore.
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