Completed Event: Cross Country versus Cyclone Preview on August 29, 2025 , , Men: 1st, Women: 1st
Final
Cross Country
Cyclone Preview
Men: 1st, Women: 1st
Iowa State University Athletics
Pollard, Grove-McDonough Earn Big 12 Yearly Honors
11.22.2016 | Cross Country
AMES, Iowa – Iowa State women's cross country head coach Andrea Grove-McDonough was named the Big 12 Women's Coach of the Year, and freshman Thomas Pollard was named Big 12 Men's Newcomer of the Year, the league office announced this afternoon. Grove-McDonough and Pollard were selected based on a vote by the league's coaches.
Pollard is the first Cyclone to be named Men's Newcomer of the Year in the Big 12 era following a remarkable freshman campaign. After redshirting the 2015 season, Pollard helped lead the ISU men's cross country team to its best season in recent memory. He finished fourth at the 2016 Big 12 Championship, the highest individual finish for a Cyclone since 1998. As a team, the Cyclones took second place overall with 49 points, their lowest-ever team score at a Big 12 Championship meet.
The Iowa State men then advanced to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2009, led by an All-Region performance from Pollard, who finished eighth with a time of 30:31. Pollard then placed 45th overall at the DI Championship meet to lead ISU to 16th place overall, tied for the program's best NCAA finish since 1997.
Grove-McDonough was named Big 12 Coach of the Year for the third time in her four years as Iowa State, as she led the Iowa State women to their fifth Big 12 title in the last six years. Iowa State won the race by 26 points in a strong team performance, with four runners earned All-Big 12 recognition under Grove-McDonough's tutelage in Anne Frisbie, Perez Rotich, Bethanie Brown and Erin Hooker.
The Iowa State women would then advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships for the eighth-consecutive season, finishing 29th overall. The Cyclones are one of just eight programs in the nation to have received a bid to every NCAA Championship meet since 2009.
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