Sion Named Big West Men's Freshman of the Year; Mustangs Sweep Coach of the Year Awards
11/26/2025 10:05:00 AM | Cross Country
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — After making history by sweeping the men’s and women’s titles at the Big West Championships for the fourth consecutive year, the Cal Poly cross country program cleaned up the Big West end-of-season awards announced Wednesday, winning half of them.
Eddie Sion was crowned the Big West Men’s Freshman of the Year, while the Mustangs swept the coaching awards as Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ryan Vanhoy was named Men's Coach of the Year, and head women's cross country coach Michelle Chewens was tabbed as the Women's Coach of the Year.
Eddie Sion
Big West Men's Freshman of the Year
This is the third straight season a Mustang has won the Big West Men’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year. Sion is the 12th Cal Poly athlete to win the award.
After redshirting last cross country season, Sion stepped into the Mustangs’ top seven this fall and became a huge contributor to their success. At the Big West Championships, the Glendale, Calif. native was the second runner to cross the finish line for Cal Poly, placing fourth overall with an 8K time of 24:25.9 to earn All-Big West honors and help the men capture the team title.
Michelle Chewens
Big West Women's Coach of the Year
This season, Chewens led the Cal Poly women’s cross country team to the third four-peat in the history of the Big West and the first since the UC Irvine women won four straight from 1989-1992.
At the Big West Championships, the Mustangs coasted to their fourth consecutive conference crown and 11th in program history, finishing an incredible 44 points in front of second-place UC Irvine with 31 points, the lowest point total by the Big West champion since 2021 and the second best score ever by Cal Poly at the conference meet.
Cal Poly built off that performance at conference with a strong showing at the NCAA West Regional, securing eighth as a team for the third straight season and the fourth time in the last eight years — tied for their third highest finish in program history at the meet. Junior Kelli Gaffney stole the show, placing 16th overall to earn All-Region honors and earning an individual berth to the NCAA Championships, becoming the first Cal Poly women to qualify for the national meet in seven years. Gaffney was also Cal Poly’s highest finisher on the women’s side at the regional meet since Peyton Bilo placed ninth in 2016.
This is Chewens fourth straight season being named the Big West Cross Country Women’s Coach of the Year (2022-25), becoming just the second coach overall to achieve that feat, joining UC Irvine’s Vince O’Boyle who won the award five straight years from 1983-87 and four consecutive times from 1989-92. Chewens is the first female coach in Big West history to win Coach of the Year four times.
Ryan Vanhoy
Big West Men's Coach of the Year
Vanhoy was selected as the Big West Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year after guiding the Mustangs to their 21st Big West title overall, fourth straight and eighth in the last nine conference meets.
The Cal Poly men scored a mere 27 points en route to a 20-point victory over second-place UC Davis as six Mustang runners finished inside the top 10 to earn All-Big West honors. As a result of winning both the men’s and women’s team titles this year, Cal Poly became the first school in the history of the Big West to swept both four straight seasons since the conference began sponsoring both sports in 1983.
This is the fourth straight season Vanhoy has been named the Men’s Coach of the Year, tied for the second longest streak by a coach in the history of the conference, only trailing former Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mark Conover, who won the award seven consecutive times from 2003-09. Vanhoy is now a seven-time Big West Coach of the Year between track & field and cross country.
