MSU Cross Country Interim Director Lisa Breznau Named Women’s B1G Coach of the Year

The Michigan State Spartans women’s cross country team won its second straight Big Ten title last Saturday, Jan. 30. This achievement came after long-time Director Walter Drenth retired last November and Lisa Breznau took over as interim director. Well interim or not, Breznau did not miss a beat taking over the program and this week earned Big Ten Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year!

Breznau earned her first Big Ten Coach of the Year honors, but it also tallies the seventh for Michigan State overall. The accomplishments by Michigan State’s cross country team comes despite an abbreviated practice period and no regular season meets as the Big Ten went straight into a delayed conference championship race.

All in all, quite the first season’s accomplishments by Breznau.

Individual honors by the team per the official release:

Four Spartans captured All-Big Ten honors on the day with senior India Johnson and junior Jenna Magness, earning first-team All-Big Ten accolades. Senior Lynsie Gram and sophomore Makayla Perez earned second-team honors.

Three Spartans captured personal bests as Michigan State returned to the awards stand. Junior Jenna Magness was the top finisher for Michigan State, coming in third place with a time of 20.30.1. Senior India Johnson registerd a PR time of 20.34.9 to take fourth place. Senior Lynsie Gram crossed the finish line with a time 20.48.4 to finish 11th. Sophomores Makayla Perez (21.01.02) and Katie Osika (21.03.3) both set personal bests to finish 14th and 16th, respectively.

Also on Wednesday, the Big Ten recognized its 26 Sportsmanship Award honorees. The students chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These students must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The complete list of honorees can be found below.

For MSU, Joe Riordan and Courtney Krupp earned Sportsmanship Award honors.

The Big Ten Athletes and Freshmen of the Year will be announced following the NCAA Championships, which will be contested March 15 at the OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma.