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PURDUE’S
BOUDIA NAMED JESSE OWENS MALE BIG TEN ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
PS
PARK RIDGE, Ill. – Purdue’s David Boudia
has been voted the Jesse Owens Male Big Ten Athlete of the Year for the
2010-11 school year, becoming the first diver to win the award and only
the second Purdue male student-athlete to be honored.
Boudia joins former basketball standout Glenn Robinson as the only
Boilermakers to win the Jesse Owens Award since its inception in 1982.
Robinson was recognized as the top male athlete in the conference in
1993-94, a year in which he was also selected first overall in the NBA
Draft.
Northwestern’s Shannon Smith, who was named the national player
of the year while leading the Wildcats’ lacrosse team to the NCAA
title, was selected as the Suzy Favor Female Athlete of the Year.
Golfer Numa Gulyanamitta was Purdue’s Female Athlete of the Year
winner and Suzy Favor nominee.
Including Purdue’s five Big Ten Female Athlete of Year winners
– basketball players Joy Holmes (1991), McChelle Joseph (1992),
Stephanie White-McCarthy (1999), Katie Douglas (2001) and golfer Maria
Hernandez (2009) – Boudia is now the seventh Boilermaker
student-athlete to be recognized as the top overall athlete in the
conference. The Suzy Favor Award was created in 1983.
Michigan State’s Julie Farrell-Ovenhouse (1991) is the only other
diver in conference history to be selected as an Athlete of the Year.
She shared the award with Holmes in 1991.
The award winners were selected via votes from a panel of conference
media. The Big Ten Network unveiled the winners on its annual
end-of-year awards show Monday, June 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
As the first Boiler student-athlete (since 1982) to be a three-time
Purdue Athlete of the Year honoree, Boudia was on the Big Ten ballot
for a third consecutive year. Northwestern wrestler Jake Herbert (2009)
and Ohio State basketball player Evan Turner (2010) were selected as
the Jesse Owens winners the last two years.
Boudia won NCAA titles in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events at the
national championship meet in March, sweeping the springboard titles
for the second year in a row and concluding his college career as a
six-time national champion. While he was one of 14 Big Ten
student-athletes to be an individual NCAA champion during the 2010-11
school year, he was the only competitor to win a pair of national
titles this year.
Before being selected as the NCAA Diver of the Year for the third
consecutive season, Boudia also dominated the Big Ten Championships the
final weekend of February. He swept the three diving events for the
second time, becoming the first student-athlete to accomplish that feat
twice in a career. Fittingly, he was honored as the Big Ten Diver of
the Year and Diver of the Championships for the third consecutive year.
Boudia won 30 of the 31 events he entered during the 2010-11 collegiate
diving season. Duke’s Nick McCrory outperformed him in the
platform championships at the NCAA meet. Boudia was the runner-up in
the event, accounting for 57 of Purdue’s 88 team points at the
national championships. In February, Boudia and McCrory teamed up to
win the USA Diving national championship in synchronized platform at
the Winter Nationals. They’ll represent USA Diving this summer at
the World Championships in China.
Boudia is also scheduled to compete individually in the 10-meter
platform at the World Championships after winning the national
championship at USA Diving’s Winter Nationals.
Boudia has opted to forgo his senior season of collegiate eligibility
to focus on training for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He was
previously an Olympian in 2008.
Smith is the second Northwestern lacrosse player in the last four years
to collect the Suzy Favor Female Athlete of the Year Award and the
fourth Wildcat overall to take home the honor. A junior from West
Babylon, N.Y., Smith won both major national lacrosse awards, winning
the Tewaaraton Award and the Lacrosse Honda Sports Award. She was named
NCAA Championship MVP after scoring the game-winning goals in the
semifinal and championship contests, leading the Wildcats to their
sixth national title in seven years. Smith led all of Division I with
128 points, which marked the second-best total in Northwestern annals
and the seventh-highest in Division I women’s lacrosse history.
She earned MVP honors at the American Lacrosse Conference Championship
and earned a spot on the IWLCA All-America first team for the second
time in her career. The Academic All-Big Ten selection will enter her
senior season tied for fifth in career assists at Northwestern (80),
sixth in points (268) and seventh in goals (188).
The Big Ten Conference has recognized a Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the
Year since 1982 when Indiana’s Jim Spivey earned the inaugural
award. The following year, a women’s award was created. In
1991-92, as part of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of
women’s athletics in the conference, the women’s award was
renamed in honor of former Wisconsin track standout and three-time
recipient Suzy Favor.
Team Championships:
Penn State Women’s Volleyball
Penn State Wrestling
Wisconsin Women’s Ice Hockey
Ohio State Synchronized Swimming (non-NCAA)
Ohio State Men’s Volleyball
Northwestern Women’s Lacrosse
Individual Championships:
Men’s Swimming & Diving
David Boudia, PUR (2)
Men’s Gymnastics
Tyler Mizoguchi, ILL
Daniel Ribeiro, ILL
Sam Mikulak, MICH
Brandon Wynn, OSU
Men’s Indoor Track & Field
Andrew Riley, ILL
Derek Drouin, IND
Wrestling
Kellen Russell, MICH
Quentin Wright, PSU
Women’s Gymnastics
Kylee Botterman, MICH
Women’s Swimming & Diving
Kelci Bryant, MINN
Haley Spencer, MINN
Jillian Tyler, MINN
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