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The Big Ten Conference recently selected its male and female athletes of the year, tabbing the basketball duo of Michigan State' Denzel Valentize and Minnesota's Rachel Banham as the winners of the prestigious awards.
Valentine was named the 2016 Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year after finishing up his stellar career with the Spartans. He won a number of awards in his final year on campus, including the Big Ten Player of the Year honor, six national player of the year honors and the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year award. He also was a consensus first team All-American while leading Michigan State to a record of 29-6.
Valentine was the third Spartan to be chosen for the male award, following hockey player Ryan Miller in 2001 and current Golden State Warrior forward Draymond Green in 2013.
Banham was chosen as the Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year after scoring 28.6 points per game in her senior season. Banham put herself in the record books this past season, setting the career scoring record in the Big Ten. She also sits in sixth place all-time in the country with 3.093 points over five seasons (she received a fifth year of eligibility after playing just 10 games in the 2014-2015 season before a torn ACL). She also was selected as the Player of the Year in the Big Ten and was a first team All-America selection.
Banham was the third Golden Gopher female to receive the award, following swimming and diving star Gretchen Hegener in 1997 and hockey player Amanda Kessell in 2013.
Each Big Ten school nominated one male and female for the award. Those nominees are listed below:
|
School |
Male Nominees |
Female Nominees |
|
Illinois |
Isaiah Martinez (wrestling) |
Jocelynn Birks (volleyball) |
|
Indiana |
Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell (basketball) |
Lilly King (swimming and diving) |
|
Iowa |
Desmond King (football) |
Aly Disterhoft (basketball) |
|
Maryland |
Kyle Bernlohr (lacrosse) |
Taylor Cummings (lacrosse) |
|
Michigan |
Mason Ferlic (cross country/track and field) |
Sierra Romero (softball) |
|
Michigan State |
Denzel Valentine (basketball) |
Aeriel Powers (basketball) |
|
Minnesota |
Matt Fiedler (baseball) |
Rachel Banham (basketball) |
|
Nebraska |
Nick Percy (track and field) |
Kadie Rolfzen (volleyball) |
|
Northwestern |
Konrad Zieba (tennis) |
Hannah Kim (golf) |
|
Ohio State |
Kyle Snyder (wrestling) |
Catherine Shields (rowing) |
|
Penn State |
Zain Retherford (wrestling) |
Raquel Rodriguez (soccer) |
|
Purdue |
Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (track and field) |
Emily Fogle (swimming and diving) |
|
Rutgers |
Anthony Ashnault (wrestling) |
Gabrielle Farquharson (track) |
|
Wisconsin |
Zach Ziemek (track and field) |
Ann-Renee Desbiens (hockey) |
And here is a list of previous winners (some years had co-recipients):
|
Male Winners |
Female 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, hockey 2002 - Jordan Leopold, Minnesota, hockey 2003 - Amer Delic, Illinois, tennis 2003 - Matt Lackey, Illinois, wrestling 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 |
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 1988-1990 - Suzy Favor, Wisconsin, track and field/cross country 1991 - Julie Farrell-Ovenhouse, Michigan State, diving 1991 - Joy Holmes, Purdue, basketball 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 1997 - Gretchen Hegener, Minnesota, swimming 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, hockey 2014 - Dani Bunch, Purdue, track and field 2015 - Taylor Cummings, Maryland, lacrosse |