Michigan State women’s cross country wins 2022 Big Ten title

Michigan State athletics has its second Big Ten championship of the 2022-2023 academic year. Earlier this month, MSU women’s soccer clinched the Big Ten title after an undefeated conference season. On Friday, MSU women’s cross country won the title after scoring 78 points at the 2022 Big Ten Championships.

The event took place at the University of Michigan Golf Course.

The championship is Michigan State’s third in the past four years, also winning in 2020 and 2019.

“It’s unreal, Michigan State director of cross country and track & field, Liz Breznau, said afterward. “I keep pinching myself. I couldn’t be more proud of the group. We have 40 women on the roster and we told them at the beginning of the season that it was going to be a 40-woman job all the way up until the end of the season. Everyone has played a role and everyone has a part. We told them today if they ran with heart they could do something really special, and they came out and did that.”

Graduate runner Katie Osika led MSU, finishing second overall, and earning first-team All-Big Ten honors. Osika recorded a personal-best time of 20:04 during the 6K. Junior Makenna Veen was named to the second-team All-Big Ten with a ninth-place finish, while sophomore Kaitlyn Hynes finished in 15th-place.

The Michigan State men’s cross country team finished fourth at the Big Ten Championships. Riley Hough earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors with a 14th place finish while CarLee Stimpfel earned All-Big Ten First Team honors with a fifth place finish.

Next month, Michigan State travels to Terre Haute, Indiana for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 11. The NCAA Championships will take place on Nov. 19 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.