Wisconsin and Ohio State Earn Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Year Awards

ROSEMONT, ILL. (Nov. 23, 2022) – Wisconsin redshirt junior Jackson Sharp and Ohio State junior Addie Engel have been selected as the 2022 Big Ten Conference Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Year through a vote of the Big Ten coaches, the conference announced Wednesday.
 
Sharp becomes the second Badger to win the postseason award, following Morgan McDonald won in 2018. A native of Wentworth Falls, Australia, Sharp finished 16^th at the NCAA Championships last weekend (29:16.8), making him the only Wisconsin runner to finish in the top 25. His performance helped the Badgers to a sixth-place finish in the team standings. Sharp also placed second at the Big Ten Championships (23:49.0).
 
Collecting an All-America honor at the NCAA Championships, along with All-Region honors and first-team All-Big Ten honors this season, Sharp is majoring in psychology and neurobiology at Wisconsin. He now turns his attention to the indoor track & field season where he finished third at the NCAA Championships in the DMR.
 
Engel becomes the first Ohio State student athlete to earn the Big Ten Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year award, having been selected unanimously this season.
 
Originally from Springfield, Ohio, Engel is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, earned first-team All-Big Ten and All-Great Lakes Region in cross country (2021), along with a USTFCCCA All-Academic Athlete honors in cross country (2021) and in track and field (2022).
 
Last weekend at the NCAA Championships, Engel placed 10^th (19:50.4), the only Buckeye that finished in the top 10. Her performance led Ohio State to a 15^th-place finish as a team. Engel also placed first at the Big Ten Cross Country Championships, clocking in at 20:00, only .04 seconds ahead of runner-up.
 
Engel’s junior season brought along many accolades including three Big Ten Athlete of the Week awards, a USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week award and placed among the top five finishers in eight of her last 11 meets.
 
Wednesday’s announcement concludes the 2022 Big Ten cross country season.
 
Big Ten Conference (bigten.org) is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching, and public service. Founded in 1896, Big Ten Conference has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in the lives of students competing in intercollegiate athletics and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness, and competitiveness. The broad-based programs of the 14 Big Ten Conference institutions will provide over $200 million in direct financial support to more than 9,800 students for more than 11,000 participation opportunities on 350 teams in 42 different sports. Big Ten Conference sponsors 28 official conference sports, 14 for men and 14 for women, including the addition of men’s ice hockey and men’s and women’s lacrosse since 2013.