COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Big Ten Conference announced its individual awards for the 2022 Big Ten Outdoor Championships on Wednesday. Ohio State captured the men’s and women’s outdoor team championships in the same year for the first time in program history, doing so for the first time since 1997 among all Big Ten teams.
Karen Dennis was named Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year. Alexus Pyles was named the Female Field Athlete of the Championships, while Eric Harrison earned Male Track Athlete of the Championships honors. The Buckeyes’ Sportsmanship Award honorees were Aziza Ayoub and Joshua Miller.
Dennis increased her total of team championships to 13 in her career, winning 12 of those as a Buckeye. She is the first female coach in the conference to lead both a men’s and women’s team to a championship in the same outdoor season. The Buckeye women set a team record with 185.5 points during the meet. Dennis’ squad earned 10 individual championships and three relay championships at the conference meet last weekend, producing 15 all-conference first team honorees and 10 all-conference second team selections.
Pyles was the Big Ten Champion in both the heptathlon and the long jump, earning her spot on the All-Big Ten First Team. She moved up to second in program history with 5,623 points in the heptathlon, winning the 200m, 100m hurdles and long jump sections as well as also finishing in the top-three in the high jump and javelin portions. Pyles posted personal-bests in the 200m (also a meet record), 100m hurdles, long jump, high jump and javelin sections of the heptathlon. She recorded another personal-best in the long jump (6.22m) to win the competition and the 100m hurdles (13.01) to finish second by just 0.02 seconds.
Harrison won two individual championships and was a member of a winning relay squad as he did not lose a race on the weekend and found himself on the All-Big Ten First Team for his efforts. His 100m (10.02) and 200m (20.12) both would have been school records if not for the wind, as the 100m time would’ve also been a meet record. Harrison also ran a leg in the winning 4x100m relay (39.12).
Ayoub, a senior, finished fifth in the women’s 800m (2:07.35) after leading the qualifiers (2:06.44). Miller set personal bests in both the shot put (18.37m) and the hammer throw (56.66m), with the shot put mark exceeding his previous PR by 0.5m and his hammer throw mark exceeding his previous PR by 0.47m. He finished eighth overall in the shot put after winning his flight and being the only thrower from the first flight to advance to the finals. Miller led the Buckeyes in the hammer throw.
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