Johansson, Steinforth, St. Clair Win Big Ten Awards

The Nebraska track and field program was well represented in the Big Ten Outdoor Championships postseason awards on Friday, which was voted on by the league’s head coaches. 

Axelina Johansson was named the Big Ten Women’s Field Athlete of the Championships, while Till Steinforth was the Big Ten Men’s Field Athlete of the Championships. Nebraska Head Coach Justin St. Clair was named the Big Ten Men’s Coach of the Year after leading the Husker men to the Big Ten title last weekend in Bloomington, Ind. 

Johansson, a sophomore from Hok, Sweden, was named the Big Ten Women’s Field Athlete of Championships after winning the shot put with a personal best and meet record 64-1 1/4 (19.54m). Johansson’s throw was a Nebraska school record and a Swedish national record. It was also the top mark in the NCAA this season, the No. 2 throw in NCAA outdoor history and the No. 2 throw in the world in 2023. Johansson swept the Big Ten indoor and outdoor shot put titles this season, and she was the NCAA indoor runner-up in March. Johansson is the Husker women’s first Field Athlete of the Championships since Mara Griva in 2013. 

Steinforth, the Big Ten Men’s Field Athlete of the Championships, was a double champion by winning both the decathlon and long jump titles. The sophomore from Saxony-Anhalt, Germany scored a school record and Big Ten meet record 8,064 points in the decathlon to win by 278 points. Immediately after the decathlon pole vault concluded, Steinforth made his way over to the long jump pit, and on his first attempt put forth a personal-best 25-7 1/4 (7.80m), which held up through the entire competition to earn him the gold medal in that event as well. It was also the No. 9 mark in school history. Steinforth is the second Husker male in a row to win Field Athlete of the Championships at the outdoor meet, as Maxwell Otterdahl was the recipient in 2022. The Husker men have swept the Big Ten Field Athlete of the Championship awards two years in a row. 

St. Clair, in his first season as Nebraska’s head coach, earned his first career Big Ten Men’s Coach of the Year honor after leading the Husker men to the team title with 151 points, their most at a conference meet since 2004. The Huskers had 12 Big Ten champions, including seven on the men’s side. NU’s seven conference champions for the men’s team were the most at an outdoor conference meet since 1990.   

Additionally, Michael Hoffer and Madison Lueger received Nebraska’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Awards.