ITHACA, N.Y. --  The Cornell men's and women's cross country teams celebrated their season with their 90th annual walk to Varna for their year-end banquet and awards ceremony last Tuesday night.

Among the awards handed out at the ceremony were team MVP honors, most improved athletes and awards for overall excellence.

The teams named Katie Kellner and Brett Kelly as winners of the Clarence Spindler Award, given out yearly to their most valuable members. Kellner, a junior, finished first among Big Red athletes at every race this season, while Kelly took the top spot among Cornell runners and 11th overall at the Heptagonal Championships last month. Kellner earned First-Team All-Ivy Honors and Kelly was named to the All-Ivy second team.

The Louis Montgomery Award for the teams' most valuable freshman was also handed out. Ben Potts and Marianne Collard took home those honors. Potts placed fifth for the Big Red at Heps, and Collard was a consistent presence in the Cornell top five.

The teams honored their top seniors with the John Moakley Award, given out this year to Chandler Kemp and Meghan Brown. Kemp, a former walk-on, earned his award by placing in the top five most of the season after never cracking the top five in his career prior to this season. Brown, the team's captain, had her best finish of the year at the Yellowjacket Invitational, where she took eighth place. Brown also earned the team's Carol Andersen Award  given annually to the team's captain.

Most Improved honors went to sophomore Emily Shearer and sophomore Max Groves. Shearer earned a place on the All-Ivy second team for her 11th-place finish at Heps, while Groves – a former walk-on – became one of the team's best runners all season. He was Cornell's top scorer at the Princeton Invitational and its third-best runner at Heps.

The teams' 5th Runner Awards were handed out to Kevin Johnson and Janel Parker. Johnson made his triumphant return after sitting all of last year with an injury. He was second on the team at the NCAA Northeast Regionals and 11th place overall at the Princeton Invitational. Parker closed out the team's scoring at Heps and also scored for Cornell at the Northeast Regionals.

Finally, the John Reif Award for overall excellence was given to Kemp and junior Kelsey Karys. Karys missed the whole season with an injury but should return for her senior season next year.

The teams also announced their tri-captains for next season. On the men's side, Johnson, Kelly and Matt McCullough will be captains. For the women, Karys, Kellner and Genna Hartung will lead the Big Red.

Many of these runners will continue to race this year as the indoor track season begins for both sides on Friday at Barton Hall.