Sydney Thorvaldson named South Central Athlete of the Year

NEW ORLEANS – South Central Region honors for the 2023 cross country season, as announced by USTFCCCA on Tuesday, included an accolade for Razorback sophomore Sydney Thorvaldson as women’s Athlete of the Year.

Thorvaldson’s season included an individual victory at Agri Park during the South Central Region meet after placing sixth in the SEC Championships. Then she placed 11th in the NCAA Championships to earn her first cross country All-America honor.

Scoring 10 points in the team adjusted scoring for the national championship meet, Thorvaldson led Arkansas to a ninth-place team finish. That placement bettered the national ranking of 12th the Razorbacks entered the meet with.

Charging from the starting line on the Panorama Farms national champion course, Thorvaldson managed to be among the lead pack for the first half of the race, producing 1k splits of 2:55.0 (3rd), 3:18.1 (4th), 3:20.2 (3rd) for 3,000m. Then her splits over the latter half of the race, as the pack separated, included 3:14.7 (7th), 3:29.3 (9th), and 3:16.8 (11th).