The heavyweight won back-to-back NCAA individual titles and led the Gophers to the 2007 national team title.

Cole Konrad's time as a Gophers athlete might have come to a close, but he showed on Tuesday that he's not quite done grabbing hardware. Konrad, a heavyweight wrestler who won the second of his back-to-back NCAA titles in March, was named the Big Ten's Male Athlete of the Year -- beating out, among others, Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Troy Smith of Ohio State.

"It's an honor to be recognized by the Big Ten Conference as a whole," Konrad said Tuesday afternoon. "It means quite a bit, given all the sports and success in the conference."

Previous Gophers athletes to be named top male or female athlete by the conference are Damion Hahn (wrestling, 2004), Jordan Leopold (men's hockey, 2002), Gretchen

Hegener (women's swimming, 1997) and John Roethlisberger (men's gymnastics, 1983).

Konrad injured his knee while competing recently at the World Team Trials in Las Vegas and missed out on making the team. He said he is now focusing on recovering from the injury -- which should take another six weeks -- and qualifying for the 2008 Olympics.

"I haven't really been injured in a while, and I didn't really have a good tournament. That was tough to handle," Konrad said. "But I'm fired up now. You can't ask for much more than to be extra motivated going into an Olympic year."

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