Plasencia Named Big Ten Coach of the Year

University of Minnesota men's track and field coach Steve Plasencia has done it again.

For the fifth-straight instance, the Gopher head coach (pictured) has been named the Big Ten's Men's Coach of the Year. As he was after both the indoor and outdoor conference championships of 2009 and 2010, the Gopher alum was named the 2011 Coach of the Year on the heels of last weekend's Big Ten Indoor Championships.

Plasencia's Gophers have won the last five Big Ten titles in indoor and outdoor track and field.

“This is truly an award that goes to the entire staff,” Plasencia said. “As a staff, we get to coach a great group of young men on our team. We are excited about the continued tradition of success of our Gopher men’s track program.”

Indiana sophomore Andrew Bayer was named Big Ten Track Athlete of the Year and Indiana junior Derek Drouin earned the nod as Field Athlete of the Year. Wisconsin’s Jay Cato was tabbed Freshman of the Year by the conference coaches. The conference coaches also recognized a pair of student-athletes for their performances at this year’s Big Ten Indoor Championships as Bayer and Drouin took home Track and Field Athlete of the Championships laurels, respectively.

All-Big Ten Athletes ... Big Ten champions are also accorded All-Big Ten First Team status. First-teamers for the Gophers were Ben Blankenship (mile, DMR), Harun Abda (600 meters, DMR), Micah Hegerle (weight) Nick Hutton (DMR) and Travis Burkstrand (DMR). Big Ten Championships runners-up are awarded All-Big Ten Second Team. Gopher second team honorees are Ben Peterson (pole vault) and Joey Schwecke (heptathlon).

The Big Ten Conference office recognizes student-athletes from each team with the Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen were individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. Minnesota’s recipient of the award was John Holton.

Torchia Honored by Conference ... Minnesota cross country and track and field athlete Mike Torchia was awarded the Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award. This award is given to a Big Ten senior student athlete who will pursue a postgraduate degree. The award recognizes their achievements

Each Big Ten institution nominates one male and one female student-athlete for 2011, with a $5,000 scholarship awarded to each winner. Torchia will be honored during a presentation at halftime of the men's basketball game on Sunday March 6, at 12:00pm. He will also be recognized at the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday March 11.

The Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award is named for the former Big Ten Conference commissioner who served from 1971-89. While leading the Big Ten, Duke spent much of his time working to improve academic standards and graduation rates for student-athletes.

Tochia completed his biochemistry degree in May 2010. He is also working on two additional degrees and is a Rhodes Scholar nominee, and will attend medical school next year.

Torchia is the president of the University's Amherst International chapter, as well as the founder and president of the Minnesota Institute for the Advancement of Public Education in Running.

He also serves as a volunteer and grants researcher and writer for the Dignity Center, a homeless outreach and human services center. A native of Rochester, Torchia is also currently working with the Associate Dean of the college of biological sciences to implement a new biological computing course to be put into next year's academic calendar.

The women's Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award recipient is Purdue swimmer Allie Smith.

Photo courtesy of the U of M.