Hempstead, NY - Hofstra men's cross country freshman Zach Van Houten was named the Colonial Athletic Association Men's Rookie of the Year after a stellar first-year as a collegiate runner, the conference announced in its postseason awards release Thursday afternoon.

Van Houten becomes the third Hofstra men's runner to win the Rookie of the Year award in the last four seasons, joining Meshack Kipchirchir (2018) and Isa Suleiman (2019) in receiving the year-end award from the CAA. Van Houten also ups Hofstra's streak of consecutive seasons with at least one CAA award recipient to four.

A standout distance runner from East Meadow, New York, Van Houten was one of the top performers for the Pride this season, crossing the finish line as the first Hofstra runner in all but one race. His collegiate career began on September 3 with a first-place finish at the Hofstra XC Invite with a 5K-time of 14:38.8, earning himself CAA Men's Runner of the Week accolades. Two weeks later in Hofstra's dual meet against Saint Francis, he finished third in with a time of 16:54.3 in the 5K race.

Van Houten led the way for Hofstra again at its next race, the 47th Annual Paul Short Run on October 1. Running in the Men's College Brown 8K Race from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Van Houten finished the course in a time of 24:49.8, putting him fourth among the field of 340 runners.

Entering the postseason, Van Houten ran in his first championship race at the 2021 CAA Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, Massachusetts, and broke the tape at 25:08.6 for a fifth-place finish, earning himself All-CAA honors as the highest-placing first-year runner in the men's race. In his final race of the cross country season, Van Houten ran in the NCAA Division I Northeast Regional Championship and finished 38th with a time of 31:33 in his first 10K race. His time was the second-fastest of any CAA men's runner at the regional championship, behind only CAA champion Alexander Korczynski of Northeastern.

Korczynski was named the CAA Men's Runner of the Year for winning the CAA Championship and earning USTFCCCA All-Region honors for finishing 17th at the Northeast Regional Championship. William & Mary head coach Forest Braden was named the CAA Men's Coach of the Year after guiding the Tribe to a conference title with six runners finishing inside the top 10 at the CAA Championship.

The top-12 finishers at the CAA Championships earned All-CAA honors and are listed below in alphabetical order.

All-CAA Team
Patrick Cullen, Northeastern
Benjamin Godish, Northeastern
Jacob Jones, William & Mary
Alexander Korczynski, Northeastern
Andrew Lagattuta, William & Mary
Tyler Lipps, William & Mary
Patrick North, William & Mary
Sam Pritchard, William & Mary
Matthew Schaefer, Northeastern
Aidan Tierney, Elon
Spencer Tsai, William & Mary
Zach Van Houten, Hofstra

CAA Runner of the Year: Alexander Korczynski, Northeastern
CAA Rookie of the Year: Zach Van Houten, Hofstra
CAA Coach of the Year: Forest Braden, William & Mary