McGuire Named Big Ten Women's Coach of the Year
10/31/2017 4:30:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- After guiding his No. 10-ranked University of Michigan women's cross country team to back-to-back Big Ten Championships team titles this weekend, head coach Mike McGuire was named the conference's Women's Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season on Tuesday (Oct. 31).
The unanimous winner in a vote amongst his Big Ten coaching peers, McGuire extended his conference-record Coach of the Year award total to 11 to go along with the 11 Big Ten team titles his squads have won throughout his illustrious career.
Big Ten Coach of the Year honors have been bestowed upon McGuire in exactly one-third of the 33 seasons since the award's inception in 1985, with Wisconsin's Peter Tegen next on the all-time list with nine such plaudits.
His 2017 Big Ten title team had adversity to overcome en route to winning the program's first back-to-back titles since a run of five-straight from 2002-06. After a disappointing regular-season finale at the Pre-National Invitational left the Wolverines as the second-highest ranked team in the field entering this past weekend's conference meet in Bloomington, Indiana, they responded with their best race of the season for a decisive team victory.
Led by first team All-Big Ten honorees Jamie Morrissey and Gina Sereno in third and fourth places, respectively, Michigan tallied just 55 points to topple No. 19 Minnesota by 31 points, 55-86. The Gophers were among five other national top-30 squads Michigan defeated on the day.
The one-two punch of Morrissey and Sereno up front was complemented by the third, fourth and fifth Wolverines -- Avery Evenson, Madeline Trevisan and Claire Borchers -- crossing the line within one second of one another in 15th, 16th and 17th, respectively.
Not since 1992 when the Wolverines won their first-ever conference title -- and McGuire his first-ever Coach of the Year honor -- have they simultaneously had both two or more runners in the top five and five or more total in the top 20.
McGuire had previously won Big Ten Coach of the Year honors in 1992, 1993, 1994, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012 and 2016.
Players Mentioned
