MSU Cross Country: Women Back-To-Back B1G Champs, Men Finish Fourth

After the normal fall season was delayed due to the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak across the United States, the Michigan State Spartans cross country teams began their season today with the Big Ten Championship. For those who need a refresher on how the teams did last season as comparison, be sure to check out our 2019-2020 recap here!

Women Win Back-To-Back Big Ten Title

The Spartan women, ranked No. 9 nationally, won their second straight Big Ten title and eighth overall Big Ten title today at the Blue River Cross Country Course in Shelbyville, Indiana. This also marks the third time in program history the Spartan women have won back-to-back conference titles. MSU also repeated in the 2010-2011 seasons and the 2013-2014 seasons.

The Spartan women finished the 6k course with 48 points overall, finishing a full 28 points ahead of second place Minnesota who scored 76 and Illinois was third with 79 points.

While Minnesota’s Bethany Hasz and Indiana’s Bailey Hertenstein finished No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, MSU junior Jenna Magness finished in third just 16.9 seconds behind No. 1 with a total time of 20:30.1 and senior India Johnson was fourth with a time of 20:34.9. Both finished with a new personal best race time.

Michigan State’s senior Lynsie Gram finished No. 11 with a time of 20:48.4 and was the other Spartan to set a new personal best time. Sophomore Makayla Perez finished No. 14 with a time of 21:01.2 and sophomore Katie Osika finished No. 16 with a time of 21:03.3 to round out the final scoring runners for Michigan State.

Sixth and seventh place finishers for MSU but not part of the scoring were senior Casey Mossholder at No. 27 overall with a time of 21:20.4 and senior Aimee Piercy at No. 56 with a time of 22:00.1.

Overall conference honors included four Spartans:

First-Team All-Big Ten

• Bailey Hertenstein, Indiana
• India Johnson, Michigan State
• Jenna Magness, Michigan State
• Bethany Hasz, Minnesota
• Erika Freyhof, Nebraska
• Allie Guagenti, Ohio State
• Brogan MacDougall, Wisconsin

Second-Team All-Big Ten

• Rebecca Craddock, Illinois
• Allison McGrath, Illinois
• Sarah Schmitt, Indiana
• Lynsie Gram, Michigan State
• Makayla Perez, Michigan State
• Abby Kohut-Jackson, Minnesota
• Alexa Westley, Wisconsin

Men Finish Fourth

The Spartan men were without last year’s third-place finisher Morgan Beadlescomb, but MSU still improved on last year’s seventh-place finish as the men earned fourth-place today with 97 points.

Sophomore James Uhlenberg finished in seventh place to lead the Spartans with a time of 21:13.2 which earned him first-team All-Big Ten honors in his cross country debut. Freshman Brendan Favazza finished 14th in his own Spartan debut with a time of 24:24.4, earning him second-team All-Big Ten honors.

Senior Joe Riordan finished 21st wtih a time of 24:38.3, junior Steven Stine turned in a personal best of 24:45.8 for 27th, and senior Brayden Law finished 28th with a time of 24:45.8 to round out scorers for MSU.

Sophomores Fraser Wilson and Jeremy Kloss helped form a wall of green at the finish line, however, as they finished No. 29 and No. 30 respectively with times of 24:46.9 and 24:47.5. Not far behind was sophomore Abdifetah Ahmed in 33rd with a time of 24:53.8.

First-Team All-Big Ten

• Jonathan Davis, Illinois
• James Uhlenberg, Michigan State
• George Kusche, Nebraska
• Curtis Eckstein, Purdue
• Rowen Ellenberg, Wisconsin
• Jackson Sharp, Wisconsin
• Charlie Wheeler, Wisconsin

Second-Team All-Big Ten

• Jake Gebhardt, Indiana
• Arjun Jha, Indiana
• Matthew Schadler, Indiana
• Skylar Stidam, Indiana
• Ben Veatch, Indiana
• Brendan Favazza, Michigan State
• Bob Liking, Wisconsin