EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire cross country program announced the 2015 team awards on Sunday evening at their year-end banquet. The awards, which are decided by team voting, include: Most Valuable Newcomer, Most Improved, Most Valuable and the Blugold Award.
Morgan Marek (Fr.-Muskego,WI) won the Most Valuable Newcomer Award on the women's side. Marek competed like a veteran finishing in the team's top seven at every race this season. Her time of 22:49 ranks fifth on the All-Time Blugold freshmen 6K list. Sam Kuhlmann (Fr.-Shorewood, WI) won the award for the men. Kuhlmann progressed incredibly well throughout the season placing 14th on the team at the St. Olaf Invite, 11th on the team at the Blugold Invite and 10th on the team at the AAE Open Invite hosted by UW-Oshkosh. Sam's personal best time of 26:11 ranks 10th on the All-Time Blugold freshmen 8K list.
Callie Fischer (So.-Ashwaubenon, WI) won the Most Improved Award bettering her 6K PR by an incredible one minute and 38 seconds from last year and earning All Midwest Region honors by placing 31st in 22:16 at the Midwest Regional Championships. This 6K time ranks FSicher 15th on the All-Time Blugold list. Riley Huffman (So.-Oshkosh,WI/North) won the award for men winning both the City Wells 5K in an impressive personal best time of 15:43 and the Luther JV Cup with an 8K time of 26:12, which is the fastest time ever run by a Blugold on that course. In addition, Huffman placed 30th of 92 runners at the conference meet, despite falling down twice during the race.
For the second year in a row, Lucy Ramquist (Sr.-River Falls,WI) won the Most Valuable Runner Award. Ramquist; who holds the Indoor Mile, Indoor 3K & Outdoor 5K school records on the track; placed 3rd at the St. Olaf Cross Country Invite, 1st at Blugold, 2nd at Pre Nationals, 1st at Conference, 1st at Regionals and an All-American 8th place finish at Nationals. In addition, Ramquist won WIAC Athlete of the Year and Midwest Region Athlete of the Year honors. Josh Thorson (Jr.- Plymouth, MN/Wayzata) also won the Most Valuable Award for the second year in a row on the men's side. Thorson; who anchored the men's distance medley relay to a national title and was the outdoor 5K national champion in track last spring; placed 2nd at this year's cross country national meet leading the men to a team title.
The Blugold Award is given to an individual who is an exceptional teammate. On the women's side, Katie Wood (Jr.-Milwaukee, WI/South) is the recipient of this special award. During her time at UW-Eau Claire Wood has done an incredible job of creating a team environment that is positive, welcoming to all and focused on the enjoyment of competition. Fortunately for the Blugolds, Wood will be back for one more cross country season next fall and will be a team captain. Ryan Mugan (Sr.-Howards Grove, WI) won the award on the men's side. Mugan is the only men's cross country runner in school history to be a 3-time All-American placing 13th as an individual at cross country nationals in 2013, 10th in 2014 and 11th at this year's championships. Mugan, who graduates this December and will start an information systems position in Seattle this January, has been instrumental in creating a team environment focused on intelligent and consistent training, which were key components to this year's team WIAC, Midwest Region and NCAA Division III National titles.
The distance runners are currently taking some down time to recharge and enjoy this past fall's success in cross country. They will be back in action with the rest of the track & field team beginning on Saturday, January 16th at the Alumni Meet.