Good morning Dubbers and Happy Tuesday!

I was browsing the Interwebs and came upon this little nugget of Buckeye Fandomonium.

Now we all know that the Lady BasketBucks just beat Maryland aka "The Program" to clinch the B1G Lady's Basketball Title and wrap up a very successful season in all rights. This is the first B1G Title for them since 2011 and they are currently riding an 11 game winning streak against Big Ten Conference opponents and await their seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

As well, I'm sure we're aware of the fact that the WrestleBucks just clinched the B1G Wrestling Title for the second straight year and have captured three of the last four B1G Championships. They won this year by accumulating the most team points (164.5) at the conference championships in 16 years (Minnesota, 174.0 in 2002) with the icing on the proverbial cake being the victory by Kyle Snyder over Adam Coon to avenge a regular season loss against the same. Collectively, the 10-man lineup captured four individual titles, seven finals appearances and nine top-3 showings. All 10 Buckeyes also earned automatic bids to the 2018 NCAA Championships (March 15-17) in Cleveland.

Now what I'm guessing you weren't aware of is that Karen Dennis (Men’s Coach of the Year), Joel Brown (Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year), Nick Gray (Men’s Track Athlete of the Year) and Zack Bazile (Men’s Field Athlete of the Year) were announced as the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Great Lakes region honorees on Monday morning in their respective categories. All of these individuals bring a rich history of athletics and coaching to their programs and are deserving of their individual honors among the B1G's best.

“These awards just show that we’re a program on the rise,” director of track & field and cross country Karen Dennis said. “For us to sweep all four awards from our region is impressive. This is the culmination of lots of hard work and I’m proud for the program as a whole.”

Now if you're anything like myself, you had to do a double take when you read Karen Dennis as Men's Coach of the Year. It just doesn't seem to fit the mold of what you'd expect but times they are changing and college athletics are no different. Here's a little background for those with inquiring minds.

The award for Dennis makes her the first woman in Great Lakes history to garner the Men’s Coach of the Year honor. Just last week, she became the first woman to be named the Men’s Big Ten Coach of the Year after she led Ohio State to its first indoor conference title since 1993. She coached the Buckeyes to four individual titles and a gold in the 4x400m relay at the conference meet to become the first woman in B1G history to lead a men’s team to a track and field title, and she has the men’s team ranked ninth in the nation heading into this weekend’s NCAA Championships in College Station, Texas. 

So if you're interested, here's a link for the full read and all the details.

All I can say is what a year for tOSU athletics in many different sports and what a time to be a Buckeye!!

Carry on Dubbers!