Hannah Diete Earns SSC Freshman of the Year Honors

MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Sunshine State Conference has announced its 2024 men's and women's cross country runner and freshman regular season standouts, honoring University of Tampa runner Hannah Diete as the SSC Freshman of the Year.

Christian Giller of Florida Southern and Jillian Thorning of Nova Southeastern receive Runner of the Year accolades, while Ben Peck from Florida Tech and Hannah Diete from Tampa capture Freshman of the Year nods.

Diete opened the season with a 14th-place finish at the the Holloway Park Kick-off 4.2k and a 13th-place finish at the UNF 5K. The Chicago product rounded out the regular season with a pair of strong 6K performances at the Paul Short Run (22:51) and UAH Chargers Invite (22:16). Diete is the fifth Tampa women's cross country runner to claim Freshman of the Year honors.

The 2024 SSC Cross Country Championships will be hosted by Nova Southeastern and take place at Holloway Park in Lakeland on Friday, October 25th. Runners who finish in the Top 14 at the championship will earn all-conference accolades. A formal announcement of All-SSC cross-country awards will be released on Tuesday, October 29th.