Big Ten Announces 2024 Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships Honors

The Big Ten Conference announced the 2024 Big Ten Men’s & Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships award winners on Thursday, as selected by the conference’s head coaches. The championship meet was held last weekend at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Penn State’s Cheickna Traore earned Men’s Track Athlete of the Championships accolades, while Illinois’ Aiden Ouimet was selected as Field Athlete of the Championships and Badgers’ head coach Mick Byrne was named Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Penn State’s Hayley Kitching won Women’s Track Athlete of the Championships, while Rutgers’ Chloe Timberg was selected as Field Athlete of the Championships and Illinois’ head coach Petros Kyprianou was tabbed as Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Traore received his first championship award after successfully winning the 60 and 200 meter races with new Big Ten Indoor Championship record times of 6.54 and 20.44, respectively, and helped the 4x400 relay team to a gold medal finish (3:06.36). Ouimet claimed the heptathlon title with a new conference indoor record of 6,120 points. He is the only Illini in Big Ten history to take home the award. Byrne earned his third coach of the year accolade after guiding the Badgers to their 2024 title.

Kitching claimed the first championship honor of her career after taking home first-place finishes in the 600 meter (1:26.97) and 800 meter (2:04.08). Timberg took home the top field laurels after placing first and beating her own Big Ten Indoor Championship record in the pole vault (4.55m). Kyprianou garnered his first coach of the year honor after leading the Illini to their first title since 2013.

The Big Ten Conference office recognizes one student-athlete from each team as Sportsmanship Award Honorees. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the academic year.

The Big Ten will announce Track Athlete of the Year, Field Athlete of the Year and Freshman of the Year following the conclusion of the NCAA Championships, which are scheduled for March 7-9 at The Track at New Balance, Boston, Mass.

Men’s Indoor Track & Field Honorees

Track Athlete of the Championships

Cheickna Traore, Gr., Penn State

Field Athlete of the Championships

Aiden Ouimet, Sr., Illinois

Coach of the Year 

Mick Byrne, Wisconsin

Women’s Indoor Track & Field Honorees

Track Athlete of the Championships

Hayley Kitching, Penn State

Field Athlete of the Championships

Chloe Timberg, Rutgers

Coach of the Year

Petros Kyprianou, Illinois

Unanimous selection in ALL CAPS

Men’s Indoor Track & Field Sportsmanship Honorees

Will Rezny, Illinois

Aidan Lord, Indiana

Sean Smith, Iowa

Tom Brady, Michigan

Trey Searles, Michigan State

Kevin Shubert, Nebraska

Mason Louis, Ohio State

Chris DeSousa, Penn State

Brett Otterbacher, Purdue

Brian Pedretti, Rutgers

Andrew Casey, Wisconsin

Women’s Indoor Track & Field Sportsmanship Honorees

Tori Thomas, Illinois

Kenisha Phillips, Indiana

Chloe Larsen, Iowa

Anna Coffin, Maryland

Sam Tran, Michigan

Grace Molloy, Michigan State

Brianne Brewster, Minnesota

Johanna Ilves, Nebraska

Aniya Mosley, Ohio State

Hayley Kitching, Penn State

Jalen Elrod, Purdue

Celine Brown, Rutgers

Victoria Heiligenthal, Wisconsin