UTM honored cross-country runners Shannon Wall and Paul Thames with the 2006 Most Valuable Athlete awards for their efforts this past season.

Wall, a transfer student finishing her first season at UTM, was the ladies leader all season long and Thames led the men in all but two competitions.

“Shannon improved her 5K time by a minute to 19:30 and never had any injury concerns creep in with her training increases,” said Gordon Sanders, the Skyhawks’ head coach.

“For Paul, it was gratifying to see him come in with his best summer’s training, post a goal on his locker that was a two-minute improvement for his 5-mile time, and achieve it,” Sanders said.