May 19, 2010
Big Ten 2010 Postseason Outdoor Track and Field Honors (PDF) 
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Coming off a successful weekend at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, senior Angela Bizzarri was named Big Ten Track Athlete of the Year, announced Wednesday by the conference office. Bizzarri, who also earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, won a pair of Big Ten titles last weekend at the conference meet while six other Illinois women's track and field athletes garnered second-team All-Big Ten selections. Seniors Alecia Beckford-Stewart (heptathlon) and Aja Evans (shot put), junior Tamika Robinson (100m hurdles) and the 4x100m relay of junior Cheria Morgan, sophomore Ashley Kelly, freshman Kayla Smith and Robinson each notched runner-up finishes at Indiana's Robert C. Haugh Complex, helping the Illini post a fifth-place team finish.
Bizzarri is the second Illini runner to earn Athlete of the Year honors in the past six seasons, as Cassie Hunt last earned the title in 2005. She becomes the sixth Orange and Blue athlete to win the award and seventh overall selection in school history, with current head coach Tonja Buford-Bailey accomplishing the feat twice from 1992-93.
The three-time national champion narrowly won the Big Ten 1,500m crown, edging Minnesota's Gabriele Anderson by .01 seconds in a thrilling photo finish and breaking her own school record in the event with a time of 4:15.42. The Mason, Ohio, native then repeated as the 5,000m champion, as she clocked a time of 16:12.35 and picked up her fifth career Big Ten title. Her other Big Ten titles came at this year's Big Ten Indoor Championships in the 3,000m and 5,000m and at the last year's outdoor conference meet in the 5,000m.
Beckford-Stewart tallied second-team All-Big Ten honors for the second time in her career after her runner-up finish in the heptathlon with a new personal-best mark of 5,272 points. The Brampton, Ontario, native took second in the long jump (5.70m), recorded third-place finishes in the high jump (1.69m), shot put (11.52m) and javelin (33.95m), placed fourth in the 100m hurdles (14.30) and the 200m (25.64) and was seventh in the 800m (2:27.47). Her other conference accolade came earlier this season when she placed second in the pentathlon at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.
Evans, who went undefeated in the shot put during the regular season and currently ranks third overall in the NCAA, turned in a second-place showing in the shot put with a mark of 55-0 ¼ (16.77m). She finished only behind Indiana's Faith Sherrill's winning throw of 55-10 1/2 (17.03m), which led to her second career second-team nod and fifth All-Big Ten selection overall. After transferring to Illinois from UNLV in 2008, the Chicago, Ill., native garnered first-team All-Big Ten selections during her first two years of competition for winning the shot put title at the 2008 and 2009 Big Ten Outdoor Championships. She also won the shot put at this year's Big Ten Indoor Championships and was named Field Co-Athlete of the Championships. Her other second-team selection came in 2008 when she was the runner-up at the indoor conference meet.
Robinson earned second-team All-Big Ten honors, as she anchored the runner-up 4x100m relay and took second in the 100m hurdles. The Orange and Blue foursome of Morgan, Kelly, Smith and Robinson timed 44.89 and crossed the line just behind first-place Penn State (44.62). The Illini relay ran nearly a full second faster than last year, where they finished third. Robinson also came in right behind a Nittany Lion in the 100m hurdles, as she ran 13.29 to notch the runner-up spot.
Other outdoor track and field awards announced by the Big Ten included Indiana's Faith Sherrill being named Field Athlete of the Year as well as Field Athlete of the Championships and Penn State's Fawn Dorr picking up Track Athlete of the Championships. The coaches selected Michigan's Erin Pendleton as Freshman of the Year, while Penn State's head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan was named Coach of the Year after guiding the Nittany Lions to their third consecutive Big Ten title.
The conference office also announced honorees from each team for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, with senior Alecia Beckford-Stewart being selected from Illinois. The 20 student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. These student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.
All of the Illini's Big Ten honorees will next head to Austin, Texas, for the NCAA Preliminary Round of Championship from May 27-29. This season, the NCAA eliminated the four-region system from the past seven years, replacing it with two preliminary sites of competition. Instead of a hard-line performance standard to qualify, an absolute, field-size cut-off per event was instituted. The top 48 per region, that declare, in each individual event and the top 24 relays per region, that declare, will compete at the preliminary sites. Entries into the championship field will be announced on Friday, May 21.
2010 Big Ten Women's Outdoor Individual Honors
Track Athlete of the Year
Angela Bizzarri, Illinois
Field Athlete of the Year
Faith Sherrill, Indiana
Freshman of the Year
Erin Pendleton, Michigan
Track Athlete of the Championships
Fawn Dorr, Penn State
Field Athlete of the Championships
Faith Sherrill, Indiana
Coach of the Year
Beth Alford-Sullivan, Penn State
First Team
Angela Bizzarri, ILL
Faith Sherrill, IND
Molly Beckwith, IND
Erin Pendleton, MICH
Rebecca Buchholtz, MSU
Megan Duwell, MINN
DeAnne Hahn, MINN
Todea-Kay Willis, MINN
Maggie Mullen, OSU
Doris Anyanwu, PSU
Aleesha Barber, PSU
Caitlin DeFusco, PSU
Fawn Dorr, PSU
Megan Duncan, PSU
Bridget Franek, PSU
Shavon Greaves, PSU
Nkeiru Ugwoaba, PUR
Dorcas Akinniyi, WIS
Jenny Soceka, WIS
Second Team
Alecia Beckford-Stewart, ILL
Aja Evans, ILL
Ashley Kelly, ILL
Cheria Morgan, ILL
Tamika Robinson, ILL
Kayla Smith, ILL
Kelsie Ahbe, IND
Sarah Pease, IND
Ashley Rhoades, IND
Emily Pendleton, MICH
Charelise Davis, MSU
Emily MacLeod, MSU
Gabriele Anderson, MINN
Amy Laskowske, MINN
Kylie Peterson, MINN
Ashley Caldwell, OSU
Nyjah Cousar, OSU
Shaniqua McGinnis, OSU
Latoya Sanderson, OSU
Karlee McQuillen, PSU
Leah Eber, PUR
Chavon Robinson, WIS
