Cazzola Voted WIAC Athlete Of The Year

UW-Oshkosh’s Christy Cazzola (Jr. • Kaukauna) has been named the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year for the second straight season.

Cazzola was the individual winner at both the WIAC Championship held Oct. 29 in Menomonie and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Midwest Regional held Nov. 12 in Rock Island, Ill.

At the WIAC Championship, Cazzola posted a 6,000-meter time of 21:27 to earn her second consecutive league title. She then ran to a time of 21:31 to defeat 263 other runners at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional.

Cazzola achieved her second straight All-America award with her second-place finish at the NCAA Division III Championship on Nov. 19 in Winneconne. Chiara Del Piccolo of Williams College (Mass.) took first place with a time of 20:52, while Cazzola finished second in 20:57. Cazzola was a fourth-place finisher at the 2010 NCAA Division III Championship.

Cazzola posted three other top-two finishes this season. She won the Roy Griak Invitational with a time of 22:06 and placed second at both the Midwest Open and the UW-Oshkosh Invitational with times of 18:18 (5,000 meters) and 21:43, respectively.

UW-Oshkosh has owned six of the past nine WIAC individual champions, and now boasts all three WIAC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year recipients. Ayla Mitchell earned the award in 2009 before Cazzola captured it last season.

Dan Schwamberger of UW-Eau Claire was picked as the WIAC's Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year.