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University of Minnesota Athletics
Bucknam, Thompson Honored For Sportsmanship
6/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Big Ten Conference has announced its annual Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners for the 2014-15 academic year with Kate Bucknam and Cedric Thompson representing the University of Minnesota this season.
The pair of Gophers student-athletes were among 28 honorees recognized by the Big Ten for displaying positive sportsmanship.
Bucknam, a co-captain of the Gopher women's cross country team last fall, finished as Minnesota's sixth runner in her NCAA cross country championships debut. Bucknam was chosen as Minnesota's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipient for her selfless act of sportsmanship in the final stretch of the race at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championship. As Bucknam neared the finish line, she approached Baylor freshman Annie Dunlap, who had stumbled repeatedly and was struggling to finish the final 50 meters of the race. Baylor teammate Madie Zimmerman assisted Dunlap on one side, and Bucknam pulled Dunlap's other arm over her shoulder and helped her cross the finish line. Bucknam wrapped up her Gopher cross country career with a career-best six-kilometer time of 21:38.8. She is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar.
Thompson was the captain of a defense that led Minnesota to its first January 1 bowl game since 1962. He started all 13 games at safety and finished second on the team with 83 tackles. He made two interceptions, forced two fumbled and broke up two passes and was also named Academic All-Big Ten. Thompson ( click to read about his life before coming to Minnesota here) received the school's Richard "Pinky" McNamara Student-Athlete Achievement Award (given to an individual who has inspired all by making an extraordinary effort to succeed despite difficult circumstances, persevering during a time of tremendous adversity and/or overcoming a great challenge) and was one of five NCAA student-athletes to receive the Wilma Rudolph Student Athlete Achievement Award (honors student athletes who have overcome great personal, academic, and/or emotional odds to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics). He was a prominent figure on the field for the Gophers, but was also visible after the clock hit zero. Win or lose, Thompson was also there to console or congratulate the opposing team.
Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award criteria: One member of each varsity sports team on every campus was chosen by his or her institution as a Sportsmanship Award honoree, and two Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners were then selected from each institution. All of the Sportsmanship Award winners have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, these honorees must be in good academic standing and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
Players Mentioned
