Louisville Men’s Cross Country’s Tyler Byrne Collects BIG EAST Honor

It is the first BIG EAST honor of Tyler Byrne’s career.

 

October 4, 2011

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville men’s cross country sophomore Tyler Byrne was named the BIG EAST Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week, league officials announced Tuesday afternoon.

 

The honor is the first of the season for the Cardinals, and it is Byrne’s first career league accolade.

 

A Georgetown, Ind., native, Byrne raced to a first place finish at the Greater Louisville Classic at E.P. ‘Tom’ Sawyer State Park on Oct. 1, finishing the 8K course in a time of 23:47.12 to lead the men’s squad to a second-place finish. He defeated the runner-up by nearly two seconds to finish first out of 240 runners. By winning the individual title, he became the first Cardinal to achieve the feat since Wesley Korir captured victories in 2004 and 2005.

 

Thus far in 2011, Byrne has been Louisville’s top runner in each of the team’s three races. He earned his first collegiate cross country victory in the season-opener, taking first at the Mid-America Opener, and followed that with a solid runner-up finish at the Navy Invitational.

 

The Cardinals are idle this week, but return to action at the Indiana State Pre-Nationals on Oct. 16 in Terre Haute, Ind., at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course, site of the 2011 NCAA Cross Country Championships. Louisville returns to E.P. ‘Tom’ Sawyer State Park twice more this season, hosting the 2011 BIG EAST Championships and the NCAA Southeast Regional.

 

For all of the latest information on Louisville cross country and track and field, log on to UofLsports.com, or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account at www.twitter.com/louisvilletrack.

 

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For More Information, Contact:

Ira Green, (502) 852-4857

Ira.Green@louisville.edu