EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (blugolds.com) -The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire cross country program announced the 2016 team awards on Sunday, December 11th 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.
Sam Slattery (Fr.-Waunakee, WI) earned the Most Valuable Newcomer Award for women by racing like a veteran throughout the entire season. Slattery was in the top seven for the Blugolds at every race this fall earning All-Conference and All-Region honors and placed 15th at the WIAC Championships and 23rd at the Midwest Regional Championships. Her 6K personal best time of 22:31 ranks second on the UW-Eau Claire All-Time freshmen list one second behind four time All-American Alyssa Sybilrud ('13 Alum). On the men's side, Kyler Lueck (Fr.-Germantown, WI/Wisconsin Lutheran) won the Most Valuable Newcomer Award by getting faster each time he laced up his spikes and competed in the Blugold uniform. Lueck placed 24th at the WIAC Championships with a personal best 8K time of 25:42 that ranks him third on the All-Time Blugold 8K freshmen list.
Sophomore Lisa LaBelle (Hubertus, WI/Hartford Union) won the Most Improved Award for women cutting one minute thirty-five seconds off her freshman best at this year's UW-Oshkosh Invite where she ran her personal best 6K time of 24:03. In addition, LaBelle finished in the Blugolds' top 14 at every race this year, which is a huge improvement over last year's best team placing of 24th. Patrick Treacy (So.-Eau Claire, WI/Memorial) took home the men's most improved honor having one of the biggest improvements in team history. Patrick earned All-American honors placing 34th at this year's national meet but failed to make last year's top 12 conference roster. In addition to his All-American award, Patrick was All-Conference, All-Midwest Region and his 8K personal best time of 24:44 from this year's conference meet ranks him 13th on the Blugold All-Time 8K list one spot ahead of steeplechase national champion, Chris Wirtz ('10 Alum).
Callie Fischer (Jr.-Oneida, WI/Ashwaubenon) took home the women's Most Valuable Runner Award by running her best at the end of the season when it counted most. This year Fischer placed ninth at the WIAC Championships (23rd in '15), 11th at the Midwest Regional Championships (31st in '15) and 77th at Nationals (150th in '15). Her personal best time of 21:47 at nationals this year ranks her 12th on the Blugold All-Time 6K honor roll. Darin Lau (Jr.-Eau Claire, WI/Immanuel) won the Most Valuable Runner Award on the men's side and solidified his place as one of the greatest cross country runners in school history by earning his third Cross Country All-American Award. Ryan Mugan ('15 Alum) is the only other cross country runner who has earned three cross country All-American Awards for men or women at UW-Eau Claire. This year Lau finished second at the WIAC Championships (4th in '15), 3rd at the Midwest Regional Championships (6th in '15) and 6th at Nationals (14th in '15).
The Blugold Award is given to an individual who is considered an exceptional teammate and this year's winners are Katie Wood (Sr.-South Milwaukee, WI) and Nick Petersson (Sr.-Brookfield, WI/Central). Wood is the first back-to-back Blugold Award winner in program history. She is an incredibly selfless individual who always puts the team's goals ahead of her own individual pursuits. Petersson's charismatic personality allows every runner to realize they are an important component of the team. During their tenure at UW-Eau Claire, Wood and Petersson have been instrumental in developing a positive team environment where everyone is respected, and that places high emphasis on training smart, working hard and enjoying competition.
The cross country team enjoyed a few weeks of down time after the finish of the season in November and now are easing back into training in preparation for the start of the indoor track & field season, which kicks off on Saturday, January 14th with the Alumni Meet.
