TU's White, Halterman Earn Superlative USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Awards
NEW ORLEANS – Head coach Quinn White and freshman Jaynie Halterman of the Taylor women's cross country team were announced Wednesday as superlative Great Lakes Region award winners in the NAIA by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Specifically, White was named the USTFCCCA's Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year, and Halterman was named the region's Athlete of the Year.
White's honor is the 15th-year head coach's third in a row and fifth overall on the women's side since the award was introduced at the NAIA level in 2016. Halterman, meanwhile, is the first Taylor cross country athlete to garner the award dating back to 2016.
At the helm of the women's cross country program, White boasts a career record of 1,510-218, including an 80-1 mark in 2024. The only blemish on this season's record comes from a narrow runner-up finish to an NCAA Division II institution, Fort Hays State, at the Gans Creek Classic.
Against strictly NAIA competition, Taylor is unbeaten in 2024 with four team titles – all of which have come with TU posting a score under 30. That figure includes the Crossroads League Championship on Nov. 8, where White coached seven All-CL runners to a 50-point win as he was named the league's coach of the year for a 12th consecutive season.
Halterman, who is yet to finish anywhere but at the top of the podium in five collegiate races, earned the accolade of USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Women's Athlete of the Year among NAIA runners.
The freshman has been named the Crossroads League Runner of the Week five times, the NAIA National Runner of the Week twice and the USTFCCCA's own NAIA Women's Athlete of the Week three times.
Halterman has broken a TU program record in three of her five races in 2024, as she now owns both the 5k and 6k program marks.
Most recently at the CL Championship meet, the Thompson's Station, Tennessee, native broke her own 6k record by finishing in 20:36.9. In doing so, Halterman became the first Trojan to claim the individual crown at the league championship since Sarah Harden ('21) won it in 2018.
White, Halterman and No. 1 Taylor look to finish the season atop the NAIA at the 2024 Women's Cross Country Championship on Nov. 22 in Columbia, Missouri.