EAST LANSING, MICH. - Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Lisa Breznau was unanimously awarded by her peers the honor of Big Ten Cross Country Women's Coach of the Year on Wednesday, Nov. 1, her third time collecting the accolade in the last four years.
Also collecting awards were graduate seniors Joshua Smith and Abbey Lee, who were nominated as the men's and women's teams' Sportsmanship Award Winners for the 2023 Cross Country season.
Breznau, who also earned the honor of B1G Coach of the Year in 2020 and last season in 2022, advances in prestigious company with her third award of the type, the second most in program history behind the legendary Walt Drenth's five.
The award comes in light of the MSU women's team winning the Big Ten Cross Country Championships Friday, Oct. 27 in Madison, Wis. under Breznau's direction, the fourth time in five years the Spartans have topped the conference. The Spartan women's third race win of the season and back-to-back B1G title came handily as all five scorers placed in the top-15 and MSU cleared second-place Wisconsin by 35 points.
The former Spartan All-American who is in her 14th season overall on the Michigan State Cross Country and Track and Field coaching staff has now collected the conference's top women's coach selection in all but one of her four seasons as director of track and field/cross country.
For Smith, 2023 has been a season of tremendous growth. The Alpena, Mich. native has consistently been among the Spartans' top scorers while breaking his personal record in the 8K (24:38.7) multiple times across the season. Smith was 4th at the annual Auto-Owners Spartan Invitational 8K on Sept. 15 and most recently placed 25th in the Big Ten Championships on Oct. 27, up from 58th last season. Smith helped the Spartan men to their best conference finish in five years when he was a freshman in the program.
Abbey Lee was also nominated for expressing outstanding sportsmanship on the Big Ten Champion women's cross country team. The experienced Fenton, Mich. native posted personal bests in both the 5K (18:01.1) and the 6K (22:28.7), also placing 42nd at the highly regarded Nuttycombe Invitational on Oct. 13, up 46 spots from last season.
Breznau's Spartans will next take to the course on Saturday, Nov. 10 in Madison, Wis. for the NCAA Great Lakes Regionals with National Championship race bid hopes.
Release courtesy of MSU Athletics.
