BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) announced its men's cross country awards on Thursday. Augsburg sophomore Mohammed Bati was named MIAC Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year, while Gustavus first-year Nick Brauer was selected as the Rookie of the Year, and St. Scholastica head coach Chad Salmela was celebrated by his peers as the MIAC Coach of the Year.
Bati (So. | Dodala, Ethiopia | GAP School) collected his second straight MIAC Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year honor after winning the MIAC men’s 8K race in 24:23.6. Bati became Augsburg’s first-ever men’s cross country individual MIAC champion last year and is now just the fifth men’s runner in the last four decades to win back-to-back MIAC titles.
Brauer (Fy. | Mankato, Minn. | East) received MIAC Rookie of the Year honors after leading all first-year runners at the MIAC Championships with a time of 25:41.4 on the 8K course. Brauer finished 18th overall, collecting honorable mention distinction in the process. He is the first Gustie in history to be named MIAC Men’s Cross Country Rookie of the Year.
Salmela (8th season) was named MIAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year for the first time in his career after guiding the Saints to a third-place finish at the 2023 Men’s Cross Country Championships. Salmela’s squad placed two runners in the top five to help secure the highest MIAC team finish in program history. Salmela is the first Saints head coach to be named MIAC Cross Country Coach of the Year.
In addition to the top individual honors, the MIAC Men's Cross Country All-Conference and Honorable Mention runners were also recognized. The top 15 finishers in Saturday's MIAC Championship race received All-Conference honors, while finishers 16-25 received Honorable Mention.
Nine of the 15 All-Conference honorees had been recognized as All-MIAC or honorable mention in previous seasons, including Saint John’s Lloyd Young and St. Scholastica’s Lars Dewall, who both earned the third All-MIAC cross country honors of their careers. Just 47 men in recorded MIAC men’s cross country history have been named All-Conference three times or more.