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Gophers Sweep Big Ten Freshman of the Year Awards
6/13/2024 10:40:00 AM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
Minnesota also captured two USTFCCCA Regional Coaches Awards
MINNEAPOLIS - For just the fourth time in Big Ten history a school has swept the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Freshman of the Year honors with the University of Minnesota's Zoie Dundon and Angelos Mantzouranis capturing the awards, the conference office announced on Thursday. The USTFCCCA also announced on Friday the Midwest Regional awards, which Minnesota captured both the women's coach of the year award in Matt Bingle while also seeing Peter Miller win the women's assistant coach of the year in the region.
Dundon is the first Gopher woman to win the outdoor Big Ten Freshman of the Year award since 2018 when Ashley Ramacher was honored. The Burnsville, Minn., native is the 10th Minnesota student-athlete to win the conference Freshman of the Year award.
Dundon's 2024 outdoor season was full of success throughout. Dundon didn't officially run her first steeplechase with the block M logo until March 30, in Raleigh, N.C. She was eighth overall in that field, and sixth among collegians. Dundon ran just one more regular season steeplechase event at the Bryan Clay Invite, where she broke the 10-minute mark for the first time to finish 12th overall. Dundon aimed to peak at the Big Ten meet, and did so by running away with the steeplechase conference crown, the first won by a freshman since Leah O'Connor (Michigan State) in 2012. Dundon's run in the post season continued at the NCAA West Regional, where she earned an automatic qualifying spot to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a time of 10:20.76. The redshirt freshman then took her season one step further by making the NCAA final in lifetime best time 9:54.53, and then ended with a Second Team All-America 12th place finish two days later in Eugene.
Mantzouranis is the first Gopher man to earn the conference's Freshman of the Year honor since fellow Greek Kostas Zaltos was tabbed in 2021. In total Mantzouranis is the sixth Gopher to win the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award. Mantzouranis was nearly undefeated as a true freshman in the hammer throw, winning seven of his nine events he entered, taking third at one meet and fouling out of the other. The Athens, Greece, native made himself known early with a 70.27m (230-6) mark in his debut at the Hurricane Invitational. Mantzouranis would go on to hit above 70 meters in every other event he had a mark in, which included his lifetime best 75.55m (247-10) at the 114th Drake Relays in late April. Just a few weeks later Mantzouranis tossed a Big Ten Championships record mark of 75.15m (246-7) to win his first Big Ten title in Ann Arbor, Mich. The true freshman then captured the NCAA West Regional crown at nearly 2 a.m. local time after a weather delay, then brought home the bronze medal at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a toss of 75.50m (247-8).
Bingle's regional award is the eight time he has been honored as the women's coach of the year in his career at Minnesota. Bingle, in his sixth year as Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Minnesota, led the Golden Gophers to the team title at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, winning three events with 18 athletes scoring. Minnesota had three finalists at the 2024 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships and tied for the most freshmen qualifiers with six.
Miller, who is in his 11th year at Minnesota, coached the Golden Gophers' hammer throwers to the No. 3 national #EventSquad ranking. His throwing crew – which set program records in the shot put and discus – was led by Shelby Frank, who placed fourth in the discus and seventh in the hammer at the 2024 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Bingle also coached Anthonett Nabwe to an NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance in the shot put with the redshirt freshman also qualifying for the discus and hammer throw at the NCAA West Regional, one of just a handful of student-athletes in the country to do so.
For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota cross country and track and field team on X, Instagram (@GopherCCTF) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the season.
Dundon is the first Gopher woman to win the outdoor Big Ten Freshman of the Year award since 2018 when Ashley Ramacher was honored. The Burnsville, Minn., native is the 10th Minnesota student-athlete to win the conference Freshman of the Year award.
Dundon's 2024 outdoor season was full of success throughout. Dundon didn't officially run her first steeplechase with the block M logo until March 30, in Raleigh, N.C. She was eighth overall in that field, and sixth among collegians. Dundon ran just one more regular season steeplechase event at the Bryan Clay Invite, where she broke the 10-minute mark for the first time to finish 12th overall. Dundon aimed to peak at the Big Ten meet, and did so by running away with the steeplechase conference crown, the first won by a freshman since Leah O'Connor (Michigan State) in 2012. Dundon's run in the post season continued at the NCAA West Regional, where she earned an automatic qualifying spot to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a time of 10:20.76. The redshirt freshman then took her season one step further by making the NCAA final in lifetime best time 9:54.53, and then ended with a Second Team All-America 12th place finish two days later in Eugene.
Mantzouranis is the first Gopher man to earn the conference's Freshman of the Year honor since fellow Greek Kostas Zaltos was tabbed in 2021. In total Mantzouranis is the sixth Gopher to win the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award. Mantzouranis was nearly undefeated as a true freshman in the hammer throw, winning seven of his nine events he entered, taking third at one meet and fouling out of the other. The Athens, Greece, native made himself known early with a 70.27m (230-6) mark in his debut at the Hurricane Invitational. Mantzouranis would go on to hit above 70 meters in every other event he had a mark in, which included his lifetime best 75.55m (247-10) at the 114th Drake Relays in late April. Just a few weeks later Mantzouranis tossed a Big Ten Championships record mark of 75.15m (246-7) to win his first Big Ten title in Ann Arbor, Mich. The true freshman then captured the NCAA West Regional crown at nearly 2 a.m. local time after a weather delay, then brought home the bronze medal at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a toss of 75.50m (247-8).
Bingle's regional award is the eight time he has been honored as the women's coach of the year in his career at Minnesota. Bingle, in his sixth year as Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Minnesota, led the Golden Gophers to the team title at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, winning three events with 18 athletes scoring. Minnesota had three finalists at the 2024 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships and tied for the most freshmen qualifiers with six.
Miller, who is in his 11th year at Minnesota, coached the Golden Gophers' hammer throwers to the No. 3 national #EventSquad ranking. His throwing crew – which set program records in the shot put and discus – was led by Shelby Frank, who placed fourth in the discus and seventh in the hammer at the 2024 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Bingle also coached Anthonett Nabwe to an NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance in the shot put with the redshirt freshman also qualifying for the discus and hammer throw at the NCAA West Regional, one of just a handful of student-athletes in the country to do so.
For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota cross country and track and field team on X, Instagram (@GopherCCTF) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the season.
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