Big Ten Honors U of M's Mead, Wilson

The Big Ten honored its best yesterday.

Hassan Mead, the conference's men's individual champ at last weekends cross country championships, was named the Big Ten Athlete of the Year. Gary Wilson, the coach of the women's team champion Golden Gophers, was named the Big Ten Women's Coach of the Year.

Mead (pictured) is the second Gopher in three years to earn Athlete of the Year honors -- 2006 Big Ten champ Chris Rombough did so two years ago. Last season as the Big Ten runner-up, Mead was named the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year.

The Big Ten's Larry Watts wrote THIS nice feature on Mead called A Long Journey.

Wilson was quick to share the praise for his Coach of the Year honor:

"This is really a program of the year honor,” he said in a Gopher media release. “Because without having my assistant coaches in Sarah Hesser and Kallie Suske and various support people helping our team, none of this would be possible."

The conference honor is the third in four seasons for Wilson, he was the Big Ten Cross Country Coach of the Year last season and was named the Outdoor Track Coach of the Year in 2006, his final season as the Gopher head track and field coach.

Read the full media release about the Big Ten awards HERE.

Photo by Gene Niemi.