Genni Gardner Earns Top Horizon League Track Honor

June 27, 2007

Butler junior Genni Gardner capped off a strong spring season by being named the 2007 Horizon League Female Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Senior Nick Gretz of UW-Milwaukee, who set a League record in the shot put this spring, was selected as the League's Male Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

Gardner, who hails from Bramley, U.K., was the lone Horizon League female athlete to advance to the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in Sacramento, Calif. She was seeded 25th in the women's 5,000 meter run heading into the national meet and wound up placing 13th in her heat and 20th overall in the semifinals in 16:30.79. She also placed 13th in the women's 5,000 meter run at the Mideast Regional in Columbia, Mo.

A first team All-Horizon League performer, Gardner won the women's 800 meter run title at the 2007 Horizon League Championship in Indianapolis in early May. She also placed third in the women's 5,000 meter run at the League meet. The talented Butler runner turned in a personal-best time of 16:26.82 in the women's 5,000 meter run at the Penn Relays in April. Her time was the second-fastest in Butler women's track and field history, trailing only All-American and school-record holder Victoria Mitchell (16:06 in 2005).

Gardner is the third Butler runner to receive Horizon League Female Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year recognition. Middle distance ace Becky Lyne won the League's inaugural award in 2003 and Mitchell captured the honor in 2004 and 2005.