Feb. 28, 2007

PARK RIDGE, Ill. - The Big Ten Conference office announced the 2007 Big Ten Men's Indoor Track and Field individual award winners and All-Big Ten teams on Wednesday. Conference champion Wisconsin walked away with five individual honors and three spots on the first team.

Badger sprinter Demi Omole was named Track Athlete of the Year and of the Championships, marking the second consecutive year a Badger has received awards for excellence throughout the year and at the championships. He was twice named Big Ten Athlete of the Week and set a new conference record in the 60-meter dash on Feb. 3. Omole also broke his own championships record at this year's event with a time of 6.63.

Wisconsin senior Joe Detmer was named Field Athlete of the Year after a successful year in the heptathlon. On Jan. 27, Detmer set an American record in the heptathlon 1,000 meters and was then named Field Athlete of the Week. He also won the heptathlon at the Big Ten Championships with a score of 5360.

Craig Miller of Wisconsin was named Freshman of the Year marking just the second time in history a Badger has won the award and the first time since Reggie Torian was honored in 1994. Miller finished second at the 2007 championships in the one-mile run with a time of 4:04.27.

Wisconsin coach Ed Nuttycombe received his ninth overall Coach of the Year award and his fifth consecutive. Nuttycombe is tied for first in the conference record books with 22 team championship wins in indoor and outdoor track. Nuttycombe also has at least six more individual indoor coaching honors than any other mentor in Big Ten track history.
 
Minnesota's Derek Gearman prevented the Badgers from sweeping Big Ten accolades receiving Field Athlete of the Championships honors. Gearman scored team points for the Gophers in three events, including a second-place finish in the high jump. He is the first athlete from Minnesota to receive championships honors.

The Big Ten also announced its All-Conference teams on Wednesday, honoring 22 athletes on the first team and 21 athletes on the second team. Third-place Michigan had the most first-team members with five, while Minnesota had four, and Ohio State and Wisconsin each had three.

A complete list of individual award winners and the full All-Conference teams as well as Sportsmanship Award honorees can be found below.

Big Ten Individual Award Winners
Track Athlete of the Year - Demi Omole, Wisconsin
Field Athlete of the Year - Joe Detmer, Wisconsin
Coach of the Year - Ed Nuttycombe, Wisconsin
Freshman of the Year - Craig Miller, Wisconsin
Track Athlete of the Championships - Demi Omole, Wisconsin
Field Athlete of the Championships - Derek Gearman, Minnesota

All-Big Ten First Team
Lesiba Masheto, ILL
Kiwan Lawson, IND
Kyle Jenkins, IND
Shane Maier, IOWA
Andre Barnes, MICH
Andrew Ellerton, MICH
Justin Switzer, MICH
Lex Williams, MICH
Sean McNamara, MICH
Aaron Buzard, MINN
Jason Erickson, MINN
Sayfe Jassim, MINN
Walter Langkau, MINN
Mark Langlois, MSU
Anthony Cole, OSU
Jeff See, OSU
Leonard Jatsek, OSU
Ryan Fritz, PSU
Rickey Pinkney, PUR
Chris Solinsky, WIS
Demi Omole, WIS
Joe Detmer, WIS

All-Big Ten Second Team
Nick Brown, ILL
Doug Dayhoff, IND
Jeffrey Coover, IND
Martin Stephen, IND
Ryan Smith, IND
Treymayne Warfield, IND
John Hickey, IOWA
Micah VanDenend, IOWA
Jeff Porter, IOWA
Michael Whitehead, IOWA
Adam Schnaible, MINN
Derek Gearman, MINN
Hans Storvick, MINN
Jeremy Orr, MSU
Scott Hudepohl, OSU
John Porter, PUR
Brandon Bethke, WIS
Craig Miller, WIS
Luke Hoencke, WIS
Steven Markson, WIS
Tim Nelson, WIS

Sportsmanship Award
Lesiba Masheto, Illinois
Doug Payhoff, Indiana
Adam Hamilton, Iowa
Lex Williams, Michigan
Phil Marlatt - Michigan State
Ibrahim Kabia, Minnesota
Leonard Jatsek, Ohio State
Sean Colligan, Penn State
Ben Harpenau, Purdue
Joe Detmer, Wisconsin