Bierbaum Presented With Honda Award
2/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country, Track and Field
NEW YORK, N.Y. - At halftime of the men's basketball game vs. Dartmouth, senior cross country and track and field captain Caroline Bierbaum was presented with the 2005 Honda Award for Cross Country.
The women's cross country team, winners of four consecutive Ivy Heptagonal Cross Country team championships, was also honored in the ceremony.
Bierbaum was voted the nation's most outstanding athlete in women's cross country, according to results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 30th year. The Honda Award is given annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports.
The senior New York City native was the runner-up among 253 runners in the NCAA Women's Cross Country Championship November 21 at Indiana State University. Running the 6K race in 19:46, she improved by one place from her 2004 showing, when she placed third at the NCAAs.
Bierbaum was one of four finalists for this year's award. Her competition for the honor consisted of the three women who finished in the top four with her at the NCAA meet -- Johanna Nilsson of Northern Arizona University, the race winner; Stephanie Madia of Notre Dame, who was third; and Victoria Mitchell of Butler University, who finished fourth. Bierbaum was also a finalist for the award in 2004, making her the only two-time finalist on this year's ballot.
Bierbaum, the two-time Ivy Heptagonal Cross Country individual champion and meet record holder and three-time cross country All-American, accepted her award from Carolyn Schlie Femovich, Executive Director of the Patriot League and former chairperson of the Collegiate Women's Sports Awards Program.
As the cross country recipient, Bierbaum is eligible for the Honda-Broderick Cup, the award given to the National Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
