LaMere earns WIAC Cross Country Athlete of the Year title

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — Ian LaMere, a senior electrical engineering major and member of the men’s cross country team at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, has been named the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year after his record-breaking 2015 season.

“This award means a lot,” said LaMere. “I put a lot of time and effort into my running career and it is very nice to see it pay off.”

LaMere, a Green Bay, Wis. native, won multiple races this season, including the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational, the Blugold Invitational, the WIAC Championships, the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships and the NCAA DIII National Championships.

After winning the WIAC title by 41 seconds and the Midwest Regional by 28 seconds, LaMere pushed to complete the 8,000-meter nationals course in a time of 23:36, winning by a whopping 39 seconds and recording the fastest winning time in NCAA DIII Championship history.

“I don't know if he's the best ever, but he’s got the fastest-ever winning time and the largest margin of victory ever so that speaks for itself,” said head cross country coach Tom Antczak.

LaMere is only the fifth male from the WIAC to win the national title, and UW-Platteville is now the only school in the WIAC to have more than one male cross country national champion, as LaMere joins UW-Platteville cross country alum Tyler Sigl for the honor.

“People were wondering why Ian had been running so hard but I guess its because he can,” said Antczak. “There is a certain satisfaction that Ian is now our second national champion, we are only one in eight schools in Division III, and the only in the WIAC, to have two or more cross country national champions.”

Written by: Carly Willman, University Information and Communications, 608.342.1194, willmanc@uwplatt.edu