Hempstead, NY – Hofstra Men's Cross Country junior Alex Masai was voted the 2018 Colonial Athletic Association Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year and freshman Meshack Kipchirchir was selected the CAA Rookie of the Year as the conference announced its 2018 Men's and Women's Cross Country Award winners, Tuesday.
 
Masai, a native of Eldoret, Kenya, announced his arrival at Hofstra in a big way by winning two of the three meets that he competed in. He won the 8K Stony Brook Wolfie Invitational on opening weekend in September in 25:14.12. Masai rebounded from an injury to become the first Hofstra runner to win the 8K CAA Championship in 24:00.7 in late October. His time was also the Hofstra school record for the 8K. Masai wrapped up his first cross country season at Hofstra by placing 62^nd in 34:28.1 at the 10K NCAA Division I Northeast Regional in snowy Amherst, New York.

Kipchirchir, also a native of Eldoret, Kenya, had a stellar first season at Hofstra. After finishing fourth at the Stony Brook Wolfie Invitational in 25:23.3 in his college cross country debut, he placed second at the 41-team, 8K Paul Short Run at Lehigh in 24:29 to break the Hofstra school record. Just two weeks after that, Kipchirchir broke his own record by posting a time of 24:26 to finish 25^th at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals. He then placed third and was the top freshman in the 8K CAA Championship in 24:03, which would have been another team record had Alex Masai not won the meet. Kipchirchir closed out his season with a 51^st-place finish at the 10K NCAA Division I Northeast Regional in 34:16.8 to lead the Pride team for the third time in 2018.

The CAA also announced that William and Mary's Forest Braden was voted both the CAA Men's and Women's Coach of the Year; Elon's Coralea Geraniotis was selected the CAA Women's Runner of the Year and Northeastern's Bridget Foote was chosen the CAA Women's Cross Country Rookie of the Year. Voting was done by the conference head coaches.