McGuire, Finn Collect Unanimous Big Ten Awards
11/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Nov. 1, 2016
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Head coach Mike McGuire and senior Erin Finn of the No. 5-ranked University of Michigan women's cross country team were recognized by the Big Ten Conference with Coach and Athlete of the Year accolades on Tuesday (Nov. 1). Both honorees were unanimous selections across the head coaches in the Big Ten.
This marks the 10th such honor of McGuire's decorated tenure at Michigan, matching the 10 titles U-M has won under his direction. McGuire's teams have finished first or second in 20 of his 25 seasons at the helm of the program. This fall, McGuire has led U-M to an overall record of 112-7, including a 27-2 tally in the Great Lakes Region.
The title-winning effort produced three all-conference performers. In addition to individual champion Finn, the Wolverines also had fourth-place finisher Gina Sereno (first team) and 14th-place Avery Evenson (second team) earn all-conference accolades. In total, McGuire's teams have produced 69 all-conference citations in cross country, including 38 first team honors.
For Finn, this marks her third Big Ten Athlete of the Year Honor (2013, '15) and comes after a dominating performance to capture her individual title in 20:37.3, more than 25 seconds ahead of the runner-up. Finn has won five of six races this fall, with winning margins of at least 24 seconds in three of those five victories. She is a nine-time Big Ten Athlete of the Week, with four such accolades coming this year, and has led U-M in 19 consecutive races while running in uniform.
Finn's accomplishments in the grand scheme of Big Ten history are numerous. She is now the first woman to win three non-consecutive Big Ten individual cross country titles in any era, and she is the only athlete to record three individual titles at 6K since the conference switched to that distance in 2005. She is also Michigan's first repeat champion since Katie McGregor (1997-98) and the conference's first back-to-back winner since Wisconsin's Erica Palmer won two 5K titles in 1999-2000. Finn is the first Wolverine to win the individual title while leading Michigan to a team win since Rebecca Walter in 2003, and she closes her cross country career with three of the last four conference crowns.
Senior/junior Jaimie Phelan, who finished 19th overall, was the program's Big Ten Sportsmanship Honoree.
Finn and her teammates will continue the postseason two Fridays from now (Nov. 11) in Madison, Wisconsin, when the team will hope to defend its 2015 NCAA Great Lakes Regional title. The race will be a 6,000-meter event run at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course on the campus of the University of Wisconsin.
Communications Contact: Chad Shepard
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