St. Thomas' Ben Sathre (SR-Chaska) was honored as the 2011 MIAC Men's Cross Country Most Valuable Athlete on the strength of his dominant first-place finish at Saturday's MIAC Championship race.
Sathre's winning time was 24:54, and he finished 32 seconds ahead of the runner-up. He became the first Tommie men's runner to take the title since 2001 when Brian Preuscapture first.
In the process Sathre also earned his fourth-straight All-MIAC honor, and he has won all three races he's entered this fall.
Sathre won two MIAC Men's Cross Country Athlete-of-the-Week awards this fall and has five total in his career, which also includes two straight All-American honors. Sathre was the runner-up at last year's Division III Championship, and he likely has another trip to nationals and another shot at All-American honors to add to his conference accolades this fall.
The MIAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year honor went to Hamline's Paul Schmaedeke, who guided the Pipers to a close championship over St. Olaf.