Hunter named Big Ten Athlete of the Year
November 3, 2005
After earning a first-place finish on Sunday at the Big Ten Women’s Cross Country Championships, junior Cassie Hunt was rewarded with the honor of Big Ten Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Championships on Wednesday. Hunt, a native of Roachdale, Ind., became the first Illinois runner, male or female, to win the award. The honor was first handed out in 1987.
“I was pretty happy when Harv told me; it’s not something that you really think about,” Hunt said of hearing the announcement from head coach Karen Harvey. “My goal was to win the race, and everything else was just a bonus. It helps in getting recognition and the University of Illinois’ name out there.”
At the Big Tens, Hunt completed the 6K race in a record-setting time of 21:00.54, destroying the old Big Ten Championships 6K record by over 30 seconds. No other woman in Illinois history has ever won an individual Big Ten title.
Hunt, though, is no stranger to receiving awards. She was named Midwest Regional Runner of the Year in 2004, Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2003 and won the Illinois Sportsmanship Honoree for 2005.
Hunt couldn’t steal all of the spotlight, though, as Katie Engel was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Engel, a North Gower, Ontario native, was the first true freshman to cross the finish line at the Big Ten meet with a time of 21:37.49, finishing 13th overall and was Illinois’ third scorer. She earned all-conference honors. Engel became only the second Illinois runner to earn the honor.
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“She’s amazing,” Hunt said of Engel. “This is a really huge accomplishment. She works so hard in practice, it’s fun to watch the progression.”
While the two runners may be similar, Hunt said that Engel was even better than she was as a freshman. At the Pre-National Meet on Oct. 15 in Terre Haute, Ind., Engel destroyed the 6K Illinois freshman record with a time of 21:11. The record was 17 seconds better than the old time.
The Illini are still ranked sixth in the nation in the NCAA FinishLynx poll and first in the Midwest in the Regional WICCA Rankings.
