Lilly King Named Big Ten Female Athlete Of The Year

Indiana women’s swimmer Lilly King was tabbed the Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year, and Ohio State’s wrestler Kyle Snyder was named the 2017 Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year, the conference announced on Wednesday.

King is the first female in Indiana’s history to claim Big Ten Athlete of the Year honors. The 2016 Olympic Champion became the first swimmer or diver in Big Ten history to win four individual national titles at the NCAA Championships. The sophomore took the NCAA gold in the 100-yard breaststroke, winning her second straight NCAA title in the event with a record time of 56.71 seconds. King also successfully defended her title in the 200-yard breaststroke with a record time of 2:03.18, the best in school history.

King’s standard reset the American, NCAA, NCAA meet, U.S. Open and Indiana school record she also established last year. King is the first student to win both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke crowns in back-to-back years since Southern California’s Rebecca Soni in 2008-09. King was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships and Women’s Swimmer of the Year after winning three individual Big Ten titles, as well as a gold medal with Indiana’s 400-yard medley relay. In August, the Evansville, Ind., native took home a gold medal for Team USA, winning in the 100-meter breaststroke with an Olympic record time of 1:04.93.

Snyder is the fifth Buckeye to win Male Athlete of the Year accolades. Snyder capped off his junior season with a 17-0 record and claimed his second consecutive Big Ten and NCAA titles at heavyweight. In August, the Woodbine, Md., native became the youngest Olympic wrestling champion in the United States history after winning gold at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio. Snyder also competed overseas for Team USA at the World Wrestling Clubs Cup in Ukraine, the Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix in Russia and Freestyle World Cup in Iran. The Yarygin is considered to be the most difficult open tournament in the world and Snyder became the first American male to win gold at the event since 2009.

King and Snyder were among a field of nominees that included nine individual national champions, 25 All-Americans, seven individual Big Ten Champions, three 2016 Olympic qualifiers and nine National Players of the Year.

The Big Ten Conference has recognized a Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year since 1982 and first honored a Female Athlete of the Year in 1983. The Big Ten Athletes of the Year are selected by a panel of conference media members from nominations submitted by each institution.

The complete list of 2017 Athlete of the Year nominations, as well as the list of all-time winners for each award, can be found below.

2017 BIG TEN ATHLETE OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

SCHOOL	MALE NOMINEE	FEMALE NOMINEE
Illinois	Isaiah Martinez, wrestling	Nicole Evans, softball
Indiana	Tegray Scales, football	Lilly King, swimming
Iowa	Peter Jok, basketball	Ally Disterhoft, basketball
Maryland	Matt Rambo, lacrosse	Zoe Stukenberg, lacrosse
Michigan	Jabrill Pepper, football	Brienne Minor, tennis
Michigan State	Tim Ehrhardt, track & field	Sarah Burnham, golf
Minnesota	Tyler Sheehy, hockey	Sarah Wilhite, volleyball
Nebraska	Jake Meyers, baseball	Justin Wong-Orantes, volleyball
Northwestern	Austin Carr, football	Olivia Rosendahl, diving
Ohio State	Kyle Snyder, wrestling	Francesca DiLorenzo, tennis
Penn State	Zain Retherford, wrestling	Steph Lazo, lacrosse
Purdue	Caleb Swanigan, basketball	Devynne Charlton, track & field
Rutgers	Anthony Ashnault, wrestling	Madison Tiernan, soccer
Wisconsin	Morgan McDonald, track & field	Ann-Renee Desbiens, ice hockey
Illinois	Isaiah Martinez, wrestling	Nicole Evans, softball
Indiana	Tegray Scales, football	Lilly King, swimming
Iowa	Peter Jok, basketball	Ally Disterhoft, basketball
Maryland	Matt Rambo, lacrosse	Zoe Stukenberg, lacrosse
Michigan	Jabrill Pepper, football	Brienne Minor, tennis
Michigan State	Tim Ehrhardt, track & field	Sarah Burnham, golf

 

BIG TEN JESSE OWENS MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS

1982 – Jim Spivey, Indiana, track and field/cross country

1983 – Ed Banach, Iowa, wrestling

1984 – Sunder Nix, Indiana, track and field

1985 – Barry Davis, Iowa, wrestling

1986 – Chuck Long, Iowa, football

1987 – Steve Alford, Indiana, basketball

1988 – Jim Abbott, Michigan, baseball

1989 – Glen Rice, Michigan, basketball

1990 – Anthony Thompson, Indiana, football

1991 – Mike Barrowman, Michigan, swimming

1992 – Desmond Howard, Michigan, football

1993 – John Roethlisberger, Minnesota, gymnastics

1994 – Glenn Robinson, Purdue, basketball

1995 – Tom Dolan, Michigan, swimming

1996 – Eddie George, Ohio State, football

1997 – Blaine Wilson, Ohio State, gymnastics

1998 – Charles Woodson, Michigan, football

1999 – Luke Donald, Northwestern, golf

2000 – Ron Dayne, Wisconsin, football

2001 – Ryan Miller, Michigan State, ice hockey

2002 – Jordan Leopold, Minnesota, ice hockey

2003 – Amer Delic, Illinois, tennis (co)

2003 – Matt Lackey, Illinois, wrestling (co)

2004 – Damion Hahn, Minnesota, wrestling

2005 – Luis Vargas, Penn State, gymnastics

2006 – Peter Vanderkaay, Michigan, swimming

2007 – Cole Konrad, Minnesota, wrestling

2008 – Brent Metcalf, Iowa, wrestling

2009 – Jake Herbert, Northwestern, wrestling

2010 – Evan Turner, Ohio State, basketball

2011 – David Boudia, Purdue, diving

2012 – Draymond Green, Michigan State, basketball

2013 – Derek Drouin, Indiana, track and field

2014 – David Taylor, Penn State, wrestling

2015 – Logan Stieber, Ohio State, wrestling

2016 – Denzel Valentine, Michigan State, basketball

2017 – Kyle Snyder, Ohio State, wrestling

 

BIG TEN FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS

1983 – Judi Brown, Michigan State, track and field

1984 – Lisa Ishikawa, Northwestern, softball

1985 – Cathy Branta, Wisconsin, cross country/track

1986 – Stephanie Herbst, Wisconsin, cross country/track

1987 – Jennifer Averill, Northwestern, field hockey/lacrosse

1988 – Suzy Favor, Wisconsin, track and field/cross country

1989 – Suzy Favor, Wisconsin, track and field/cross country

1990 – Suzy Favor, Wisconsin, track and field/cross country

1991 – Julie Farrell-Ovenhouse, Michigan State, diving (co)

1991 – Joy Holmes, Purdue, basketball (co)

1992 – MaChelle Joseph, Purdue, basketball

1993 – Lara Hooiveld, Michigan, swimming

1994 – Kristy Gleason, Iowa, field hockey

1995 – Laura Davis, Ohio State, volleyball

1996 – Olga Kalinovskaya, Penn State, fencing

1997 – Kathy Butler, Wisconsin, track and field (co)

1997 – Gretchen Hegener, Minnesota, swimming (co)

1998 – Sara Griffin, Michigan, softball

1999 – Stephanie White-McCarty, Purdue, basketball

2000 – Lauren Cacciamani, Penn State, volleyball

2001 – Katie Douglas, Purdue, basketball

2002 – Christie Welsh, Penn State, soccer

2003 – Perdita Felicien, Illinois, track and field

2004 – Kelly Mazzante, Penn State, basketball

2005 – Jennie Ritter, Michigan, softball

2006 – Tiffany Weimer, Penn State, soccer
2007 – Jessica Davenport, Ohio State, basketball

2008 – Hannah Nielsen, Northwestern, lacrosse

2009 – Maria Hernandez, Purdue, golf

2010 – Megan Hodge, Penn State, volleyball

2011 – Shannon Smith, Northwestern, lacrosse

2012 – Christina Manning, Ohio State, track and field

2013 – Amanda Kessel, Minnesota, ice hockey

2014 – Dani Bunch, Purdue, track and field

2015 – Taylor Cummings, Maryland, lacrosse

2016 – Rachel Banham, Minnesota, basketball

2017 – Lilly King, Indiana, swimming

Press Release courtesy of the Big Ten Conference.