SUWANEE, Ga. -- For the third consecutive year, Colorado College's Alex Nichols has been selected Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Coach-of-the-Year for both men's and women's cross country in exclusive voting by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.

Nichols is the first coach in SCAC history to sweep the SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honors for both men’s and women’s cross country outright in three consecutive years.

The Tigers swept both the men's and women's conference titles at last month's championship meet, with the men winning their fifth consecutive SCAC championship and the women claiming their third straight conference crown and fourth in five years.

On the men's side, paced by senior James Settles, who earned Runner-of-the-Year honors for the second-straight year with the third fastest time in championships history (25:01.00), Colorado College defeated Trinity 24-33. Individually, Settles, who had placed third at conference as a freshman and runner-up as a sophomore, became just the second SCAC male to complete his career with four top three finishes at the conference championship meet. Thomas Pillow of Trinity accomplished the feat each year from 1996 to 1999. He is the program's fourth man to win multiple SCAC championship meets - joining Jackson Brainerd (2009, 2010 and 2011), Nick Hall (2012, 2013 and 2014) and Josh Fry (2020/21 and 2021). His individual victory at this year's meet continued the program's dominance at posting the event's top medalist, with Settles becoming the 15th individual winner over the last 18 championships to win wearing CC black and gold.

The team conference title represented the 11th overall for the Colorado College men's cross country program (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020/21, 2021, 2022 and 2023).

At the NCAA West Regional, Settles led the Tigers to a fourth-place team finish after winning the individual title, becoming CC’s first regional champion since Jackson Brainerd won three in a row from 2009-11. The Tigers performance secured the program an at-large bid into the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2011 where Settles once again led the Tigers on the national stage, earning All-American honors after finishing fourth and helping the Tigers secure 26th overall as a team.

With nine runners earning all-conference honors, including top honors for senior Kendall Accetta, the Colorado College women won their third-straight and fourth SCAC women’s cross-country title in the last five years last month in Seguin, Texas at the conference championships.

Accetta, who finished the 6k course on a muggy humid day in a time of 23:13.62, became a three-time All-SCAC performer having earned third in 2021 and sixth in 2020-21. Eight more CC runners earned All-SCAC honors, including junior Elliot Singer, who finished runner-up (23:23.47) after earning the individual title in the two previous championships. Sophomore Allison Mueller-Hickler improved two spots from her rookie performance last year to finish third (23:46.11) and first-year Willow Lott earned Newcomer-of-the-Year accolades for being the highest finishing first-year runner after crossing the line in fourth (23:50.53).

With its seventh program conference title in women's cross country history, Colorado College is now tied with former SCAC member Rhodes College for the second most titles all-time in league history. DePauw University holds the all-time SCAC record with nine team titles.

Two weeks later, the CC women placed third at the NCAA West Regional and earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Division III Championship meet, which was held November 18 in Newville, Pa. At the national meet, the Tigers, participating as a team for the third consecutive year, finished 22nd with 506 points. Accetta once again paced the Tigers placing 44th individually with a personal-best 6k time of 21:59.00. Sophomore Sydney Rankin led CC by placing 43rd individually with a personal-best 6K time of 22:46.8.

This year marked the first time since 2007 both CC teams qualified for the Division III National Championships.

Nichols has served as head coach of both the men's and women's cross country teams at CC since 2020, serving as an interim head coach following the retirement of legendary head coach Ted Castaneda before taking over the role permanently prior to the 2021 season. The COTY honors represent his third recognition on the women's side and fourth on the men's. He earned 2020-21 SCAC Men's Cross Country Coach-of-the-Year following the spring meet which was run at the University of Dallas.