Big Ten Cross Country Awards Announced
November 02, 2005 | Men's Cross Country
The Big Ten honored three members of the Wisconsin men's cross country program Wednesday with postseason awards. Senior Simon Bairu earned Big Ten Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Championship honors while redshirt freshman Matt Withrow was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. The Big Ten also recognized head coach Jerry Schumacher as the conference's Coach of the Year and senior Ben Gregory was the team's Sportsmanship Honoree.
This is the third consecutive Big Ten Athlete of the Year award for Bairu. The Regina, Saskatchewan, native won his third straight Big Ten individual title last Sunday in Minneapolis, Minn. Only two runners in Big Ten history have won the title more times than Bairu. His time of 23:31.73 beat his 2004 title time by nearly 14 seconds. Bairu also becomes the fourth consecutive UW runner to win the award and seventh in the last eight years.
At the Championship, Withrow ran a time of 24:06.58 for a third-place finish, best among first-year competitors. Prior to the Championship, Withrow had not competed in a meet since the Indiana State Invitational, which was the first of the season. At that meet, he recorded a time of 25:32.4. Withrow becomes the fifth Badger to win the award since its start in 1987. Current junior Chris Solinsky was the last Badger to win Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2003.
This is Schumacher's fifth straight Big Ten Coach of the Year award and sixth in his eight-year tenure at Wisconsin. He is now tied with former UW head coach Martin Smith for most conference Coach of the Year honors. Schumacher coached the Badgers to their seventh straight Big Ten title last weekend and did so in record-breaking fashion. The team scored a Big Ten record 16 points, recording eight of the top nine finishes, and won by a Big Ten-record 85 points.
Six Badgers earned first-team All-Big Ten honors including Bairu, Withrow, Solinsky, redshirt freshmen Stuart Eagon and Christian Wagner and senior Antony Ford. Tim Nelson and Gregory also earned second-team honors with their eighth- and ninth-place finishes, respectively, at the meet. In Schumacher's eight seasons, he has now coached 26 first-team All-Big Ten runners.
This is the fourth time in Big Ten history one school has swept all the postseason awards. UW also did so in 2003.
The Badgers now look to qualify for their 34th consecutive NCAA Championship as they head to the Great Lakes Regional on Saturday, Nov. 15. The meet kicks off at 11 a.m. on the Indiana University Golf Course in Bloomington, Ind. The top two teams at the Regional will move on to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. Wisconsin is the reigning regional champion and has won 20 regional titles.
