Stephen Lisgo Named Horizon League Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year

Butler junior Stephen Lisgo, who turned in a record-setting performance during the spring track season, has been selected as the 2009 Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Male Athlete of the Year.  He was chosen for the league’s top honor by a vote of Horizon League track and field coaches, who also named Loyola middle distance runner Pam Staton as the 2009 Female Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

Lisgo, competing in his first season with the Bulldogs, capped a productive spring by earning All-America honors at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in Fayetteville, Ark.  He placed third in the men’s 3,000 meter steeplechase at the national meet in a Butler-record time of 8:35.49 , breaking the previous Butler mark of 8:42.5 set by Mark Tucker in 2002.  Lisgo’s national meet finish was the best by a Butler athlete since 2005, when Victoria Mitchell won the women’s steeplechase, and the best by a male Butler athlete in nearly seven decades!

A native of Mansfield, U.K., Lisgo won the steeplechase at the 2009 Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Championship in a league-record 8:51.49.  He also placed fourth at the league meet in the men’s 1,500 meter run in 3:56.07, finishing behind three Butler teammates.  He went on to place third in the steeplechase at the NCAA Mideast Regional and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA national meet.

In addition to his league and NCAA meet performances, Lisgo also won the steeplechase at both the Miami Invitational and at the Oregon Relays.  He set a meet and facility record at Miami with a time of 8:45.1, and then comfortably posted a win at Oregon in 8:53.40, despite hitting his knee on a hurdle a third of the way through the race.

Lisgo’s selection gave Butler a sweep of the Horizon League’s top male track and cross country awards.  Andy Baker was tabbed as the league’s 2008 Cross Country Male Athlete of the Year, while Kris Gauson was named the league’s 2009 Indoor Track and Field Male Athlete of the Year.  Baker also was named the league’s outdoor track Male Athlete of the Year in 2008.