FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

[Click Here For Full Release]

[Click Here For NCAA Release]

[Click Here For Featured Cod Rock Media Productions Video from Oct. 25, 2009]

Indianapolis, Ind. – Southern New Hampshire University cross country athletes Tyler Parks (Moultonborough, N.H.) and Mike Smith (Lynnfield, Mass.) have been selected as the 2009-2010 NCAA Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award winners as announced by the NCAA .

The Sportsmanship Award is given by the Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct (CSEC) to honor student-athletes who demonstrate acts of sportsmanship that have a positive impact on teammates, opponents and fans. From all three divisions, the committee selects one overall male and one overall female student-athlete or team as the NCAA Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award winners.

The women's sportsmanship award went to the women's volleyball team from Northwestern College (Minn.), while Parks and Smith were honored with the men's sportsmanship award.

Both athletes earned the award for their actions during the New England Championships this past October. Midway through the third mile of the 8k championship course, Smith came across a Boston University runner who apparently passed out and was unconscious lying on the ground.

Smith began to help the runner up as Parks, who was seconds behind Smith in the race, ran over to his teammate to assist. Both Smith and Parks were able to aid the runner out of the wooded area of the course and to the closest medical tent where an ambulance was waiting to take the runner to the nearest hospital.

As a result of their actions, neither Smith nor Parks were able to finish the championship race, however, the end result was rewarding enough. The BU runner, who passed out from dehydration, ended up being okay thanks to the self-sacrifice both Smith and Parks portrayed during the race.

Parks and Smith were honored as the Northeast-10 Male Sportsmanship Award recipients back in June during the conference's end of the year awards banquet in Burlington, Vt.

The NCAA Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award was first presented in 1999 as the Outstanding Sports Persons of the Year Award. The award was renamed the NCAA Sportsmanship Award in 2001. Beginning with the 2009-10 academic year, the award was renamed to the NCAA Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award, to distinguish it from the recently created NCAA Bob Frederick Sportsmanship Award.

The NCAA Bob Frederick Sportsmanship Award was created to honor a coach, administrator, or staff member who has a demonstrated history of sportsmanship.

With 16 member institutions the Northeast-10 shares the distinction of being the largest Division II conference in the country along with the PSAC and WVIAC. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.

-NE-10-