COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennnessee Tech University has been voted winner of the Ohio Valley Conference Team Sportsmanship Award for 2009 in Women's Outdoor Track & Field. On Tuesday, the league office announced that Tech is the recipient in women's track and Southeast Missouri won the men’s award.

Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators and fans.

"I have a great group of young ladies
on this team and they always
exemplify sportsmanship in the way
hey go about doing their events...
These ladies show a lot of class
whether in winning or defeat."
--- TTU head coach Tony Cox

"The Ohio Valley Conference puts a great deal of value on sportsmanship and respect for your opponent,” said Brad Walker, Interim OVC Commissioner. “Student-athletes are the most visible representatives of their institutions as well as the OVC and we have high expectations on them to show sportsmanlike behavior. The OVC Sportsmanship Award winner should take pride in being honored by their peers as the program that exemplifies the league's commitment to sportsmanship."

"The Team Sportsmanship Award is an important honor for any of our teams, and I am really proud of coach (Tony) Cox and the ladies on the track & field team," said TTU Director of Athletics Mark Wilson. "We consider showing good sportsmanship to be among the top priorities in each of our programs, right up there with striving for success in academics leading to graduation. Those are all key elements in educating our student-athletes for success in life."

The 2008-09 school year marks the fourth year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded. It is the first award for Tennessee Tech and SEMO in women's track.

The Tennessee Tech women’s team placed eighth at the OVC Championships in 2009, totaling 25.5 points.

"I am very excited that our team won this award,” said Tennessee Tech head coach Tony Cox. “This is a great honor for the team. I have a great group of young ladies on this team and they always exemplify sportsmanship in the way they go about doing their events. We talk a lot about knowing the rules of the events and staying within the rules when competing. These ladies show a lot of class whether in winning or defeat."

The Southeast Missouri men’s team finished third at this year’s outdoor championship, scoring 124 team points.

“It is good to know that the other teams in our conference think our men are good sports,” said Southeast Missouri State head coach Eric Crumpecker. “Our men work hard to win, but have been gracious in winning and losing. We want our athletes to conduct themselves in a manner the University can be proud of. We want to be a class act."

Implemented in August 2005, the team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.

In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a first-of-its-kind “Sportsmanship Statement,” a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one’s opponent. The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics, and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.