NEW ORLEANS – Donna Ricks, who guides the Carleton College women's cross country and track & field programs, was voted by her peers as the 2023 National Coach of the Year for NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) following the conclusion of the season.
 
The award is based on results from both the 2023 NCAA D-III Cross Country Championships and during the regular season.
 
Ricks, in her 31st year as head coach of the Knights, led her squad to the national title at the 2023 NCAA D-III Cross Country Championships. It was the first time in Carleton history that a women's program won the NCAA national team title in any sport, and it is only the second NCAA team crown in school history, joining the 1980 men's cross country team in that elite club.
 
On Saturday, Nov. 18 in Newville, Pennsylvania, Carleton won a tightly-contested battle for the national crown, as the top-4 teams all finished within seven points of each other making this the closest finish in NCAA D-III Women's Cross Country Championships history. The Knights posted a team score of 151 to edge No. 1-ranked NYU by three points. No. 5 University of Chicago was right on their heels at 156 points to take third place, and No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps finished fourth at 158 points.
 
The Knights went undefeated against NCAA D-III competition during the 2023 season. They finished fourth at the season-opening Clash of the Inland Northwest, but the top three teams that day were all NCAA D-I programs. Carleton did not enter a scoring contingent at its next race—the River Town Twilight—but had the individual champion that evening. The Knights then won team titles at the Running of the Cows, the Blugold Invitational, the Mike Woods Invitational, the MIAC Championships, and the NCAA North Region Championships before making school history on the six-kilometer course at Big Spring High School in rural Pennsylvania.
 
The NCAA began hosting the Division III Women's Cross Country Championships in 1981, and Ricks is the first woman in 24 years to lead her program to the national team title and only the third to ever do so. The others are Deb Vercauteren (UW-Oshkosh – 1987, 1988, 1991, and 1996) and Nancy Meyer (Calvin – 1998 and 1999).
 
Prior to the 2023 cross country season, the USTFCCCA announced that Ricks would be part of its six-member Coaches Hall of Fame Class of 2023 to be inducted on Dec. 12 at the USTFCCCA Convention in Denver, Colo.