University of Minnesota Athletics
Bucknam Receives B1G Sportsmanship Award
11/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
MINNEAPOLIS - University of Minnesota redshirt junior Kate Bucknam has received the 2014 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, given annually to a representative of each of the conference's 14 women's cross country programs.
The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These student-athletes must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
"Kate's always been a great kid and she has a real passion for the sport," head coach Sarah Hopkins said. "It's been fun this year watching her serve as a captain and also step up athletically and be in our top group.
"One of the things I think she really does well and one of the reasons I think that she won the award is, for her, it's all about the team and whatever she can do to help the team. That's the bottom line."
Bucknam, a native of Fayetteville, Ark., has raced at five meets so far this season, most recently running a season-best 6K time of 21:42.5 at the Big Ten Championships as the sixth Gopher in 67th place overall. Her highest individual showing this season was a 10th-place overall finish at the SDSU Classic 5K as Minnesota's seventh runner in 18:17.4. She has consistently been among the Gophers' top seven runners this season.
"I've told Kate a lot of times this year that I needed her to go out and be our fourth runner early in the race because she's assertive and aggressive, knowing that may mean that she could get passed by a few people on our own team later in the race. She doesn't bat an eyelash at doing exactly that and being a bit of a sacrificial lamb at times, knowing it has helped the entire group be better.
"I think where she has made the biggest impact this year is being the voice of reason and the pillar of that fourth through eighth order of the team."
Bucknam, a kinesiology major, dreams of one day coaching at the collegiate level. Her father, Chris Bucknam, is the track & field head coach at the University of Arkansas and she hopes to follow in his footsteps.
"She's very driven," Hopkins said. "Since she wants to coach someday, running takes up a big part of her life outside the program as well. She just loves the program and loves helping with recruits and learning about what I do on a daily basis because she wants to do this down the road."
Taking on a leadership role this year has helped Bucknam contribute to the program she loves on another level. Emerging as one of the team's top runners this season also earned Bucknam a place on the Gophers' postseason roster as the team prepares for next week's NCAA Midwest Regional and looks to secure the program's 10th-straight NCAA championships appearance.
"Kate has been a great presence this year, especially after losing a lot of the captains from last year," Hopkins said. "Having her this year has helped in that transition because she has been able to earn respect from all of the underclassmen but also be a pretty vocal person. She leads by example but is not afraid to be vocal and get this group to where they need to be."
###
Players Mentioned
