Mayhew named Big Ten cross country runner for year

After a unanimous vote by Big Ten Conference cross country coaches, IU senior runner Zach Mayhew was named the 2012 Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Year.

Mayhew finished first in the Big Ten Cross Country Championship meet during the weekend to seal his first individual Big Ten title and his fourth-consecutive cross-country All-Big Ten honor. Mayhew finished with a time of 23:30 on the 8 kilometer course in East Lansing, Mich.

Mayhew beat out All-American Maverick Darling and 2012 Olympian Mohammed Ahmed to earn the first-place finish.

The last Hoosier to win the individual Big Ten title was Bob Kennedy in 1992, who went on to hold the American records in the 3,000-meter, two-mile and 5,000-meter races.

— Casey Krajewski