Brannen Shares Conference Athlete of the Week Honor
10/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- Senior captain Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS), a member of the University of Michigan men's cross country team, was named Big Ten Conference co-Athlete of the Week on Tuesday (Oct. 19) for his performance at the NCAA Pre-Nationals. It is the second weekly distinction for Brannen in three weeks. He shares the the honor this week with Minnesota's Andrew Carlson.
| | Brannen |
The Wolverine captain registered a personal-best time of 23:56.8, cutting 1.4 seconds from his previous best 8,000-meter time, which he clocked at last season's NCAA Pre-Nationals (Oct. 17, 2003). As the leader of the chase pack entering the last 1,000 meters of the race, Brannen -- along with teammate Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS) -- bridged a 10-second gap to catch the lead pack and outkick Illinois' Jason Bill and Florida State's Andrew Lemoncello down the final stretch to move into second place. Willis finished third.
This is the second weekly honor for the Wolverines this year and the third for Brannen during his four seasons at Michigan. He earned the distinction two weeks ago (Oct. 5) after pacing the Wolverines at the Great American Cross Country Festival with a fourth-place individual finish. With three career Big Ten weekly honors, Brannen equals Mark Pilja (1998-2001) for the most in U-M men's cross country history.
The No. 7-ranked Wolverines will wrap up the regular-season portion of their schedule at the EMU Classic on Friday (Oct. 22) at Buhr Park in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines will send seven runners to the 8,000-meter race, which is slated for a 4 p.m. start.
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
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