The Wolverine

  WHERE ARE THEY NOW? tory, and one of just six Wolverine athletes to capture the individual conference crown at the Big Ten Championships. She led U-M to Big Ten titles in all four of her cross country seasons (2002-05), while on the track she was the 2006 Big Ten champion in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races. Walter was not a nobody coming out of Birmingham Groves High School, winning the Division 2 Class B state title in 2001, but she stumbled at a prestigious national event — the Foot Locker National Champion- ships — in front of Michigan coach Mike McGuire, and prepared herself for a humbled U-M career. In her first collegiate race, Wal- ter clocked 18:31.6 on a 5,000-meter course Sept. 7. Two months later, on Nov. 3, she crossed the finish line at the Big Ten Championships in a time of 17:47.8, shaving close to 44 sec- onds off her opening salvo. "I still don't understand how that freshman breakout year happened," said Walter, giddily recounting the memories of her astonishing devel- opment. "I really haven't seen such an immense improvement happen with anyone else, and I don't even think I could repeat that ever again. "I obviously had a lot of poten- The Rebecca Walter File Michigan Accomplishments: Big Ten Cross Country Freshman of the Year in 2002 … Big Ten conference champion and Athlete of the Year in 2003, winning the 6,000-meter race in 20:40.5 … Recorded three top-five finishes at the cross country Big Ten meet in four seasons … All-American from 2003- 05 … Helped lead U-M to cross country conference titles in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 … Three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection (2003-05) … Also Academic All-Big Ten in track in 2003, 2005-06 … Big Ten individual track champion in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs. Michigan Memory: "I think a lot of people can say this about college, but I'm pretty sure during those five years I grew more than any other time in my life. I felt like I had a very successful academic career, too. I managed to volunteer coach for Coach Helmer at Georgetown, which led to a job right after college. I worked with autistic kids during my time at Michigan, and I pulled a pretty decent GPA. "I take as much or more pride in those accomplishments as I did with athlet- ics." Professional Accomplishments: Served as assistant coach at Indiana Uni- versity, working with men's and women's cross country, and track and field teams from July 2007 to June 2014 … Co-creator and partner for UGo Bars, founded on Aug. 15, 2013. Education: Graduated with degrees in cognitive psychology and Spanish in 2007.

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