Michigan State University Athletics
O'Connor And Senakiewich Receive USTFCCCA Regional Awards
3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced its Regional Athletes and Coaches of the Year for the 2015 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field season on Friday. Michigan State's Leah O'Connor was selected as the Great Lakes Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year, while MSU assistant coach Lisa Senakiewich was named the Women's Assistant Coach of the Year. O'Connor is receiving the award for the second time in her career after also being honored in 2013. Tori Franklin and former Spartan thrower Beth Rohl earned the Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year award in 2013 and 2011, respectively.
O'Connor has enjoyed another standout year on the track thus far this season, winning a pair of Big Ten titles in the women's mile and women's distance medley relay. She repeated as conference champion in the mile as she broke her own MSU and SPIRE facility record with a time of 4:32.29 at last weekend's Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships in Geneva, Ohio. O'Connor also ran the final leg of the women's distance medley relay for the Spartans as the team rallied for a win in the event and shattered the MSU school record with a time of 10:57.80. For her performance, O'Connor was named Big Ten Women's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year and Track Athlete of the Championships on Tuesday. The four-time All-Big Ten selection and three-time USTFCCCA All-American currently ranks fifth in the nation in the women's mile heading into the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, while the MSU women's distance medley team is second overall. O'Connor, the 2014 national champion in the 3,000m steeplechase, was also voted the Big Ten Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year this past November after leading Michigan State to the Big Ten and NCAA Championship.
MSU assistant coach Lisa Senakiewich has played a key role in the success of O'Connor and the rest of the Spartans' distance runners. Senakiewich has worked with O'Connor in addition to Big Ten Women's 3,000m Champion Rachele Schulist and the MSU women's distance medley relay team, helping the Spartan women's runners score a total of 45 points at the Big Ten meet. Senakiewich is also the assistant coach for the Michigan State men's and women's cross country squads. She joins John Newell (2011) and Chris Bostwick (2013) as MSU coaches to receive the Great Lakes Region Assistant Coach of the Year award.
The Spartans will send seven individuals to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, which will be held on March 13 & 14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
