BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference announced on Friday that the Eastern Kentucky University men’s team is the recipient of the 2012-13 Team Sportsmanship Award for outdoor track and field.

It is the second time the EKU men’s outdoor track team has received the coveted team sportsmanship award since it was created in 2005 (2007 was the other year).

“This award says a great deal about the quality of the young men on this team, and I am very proud of all of them,” head coach Rick Erdmann said.

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.

“Without sportsmanship there are truly no meaningful victories,” OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche said. “The recipients of the OVC Team Sportsmanship awards should accept this award with great pride for their fellow competitors have made it clear their teams exemplify the best in intercollegiate athletics. In receiving this prestigious honor other competitors are saying these student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents and value fair play. That is quite a compliment as those are all traits that will lead to true victories throughout the course of life.”

The EKU men finished fourth at this spring’s OVC Outdoor Championships.

Sophomore Thijs Nijhuis qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the men’s 10,000 meters on Thursday, while two other members of the team, junior Wade Meddles and sophomore Ole Hesselbjerg, will compete at the NCAA East Region Preliminary Rounds this weekend.