MADISON, Wis. – Following the Wisconsin men’s cross country team claiming its 53rd Big Ten championship and fifth consecutive title last week, two Badgers claimed conference honors for the 2022 cross country season.
Wisconsin Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne was named Big Ten Conference Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year for the 12th time in his career. Byrne’s 12 Big Ten honors mark the most in league history, while he also earned the 29th men’s cross country conference coach of the year honor in his career.
Throughout his 15 seasons at Wisconsin, Byrne has led the Badgers to 12 Big Ten cross country team titles and 10 Big Ten Individual titles. Byrne is now also tied with former Wisconsin coach Martin Smith for the most Big Ten men’s cross country titles in program history.
Adam Spencer, a redshirt freshman on the Wisconsin men’s cross country team, was named Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year. The last Badger to win this prestigious award was Rowen Ellenberg, who was honored in the spring of 2021.
Running in his first Big Ten championship race, Spencer finished third for the Badgers and sixth overall, covering the challenging course in 23:59.0. Earning this award makes Spencer the 13th Badger to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year since the award was begun in 1987.
In addition, senior Derick Peters was named a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree for the men’s program and Peyton Sippy earned the honor on the women’s side.
Both the UW men’s and women’s teams claimed honors with four first-team All-Big Ten honorees and six second-team All-Big Ten award winners.
Men’s Honorees
Men’s Coach of the Year
First-team All-Big Ten
Second-team All-Big Ten
Sportsmanship Award
Women’s Honorees
Second-team All-Big Ten
Sportsmanship Award
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