Women's Tennis Wins U-M Leaders and Best Award
9/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan athletic department announced today (Thursday, Sept. 19) that the women's tennis team has earned the Leaders and Best Award for the 2001-02 academic year. The award, in its third year, is given annually by former football letterman Larry Johnson to the Michigan varsity team with the highest grade-point average. The women's tennis program will receive a trophy, created by U-M student Christina Ziegler, and a monetary award of $20,000, donated by Johnson.
The Wolverines placed five members of the squad on the Academic All-Big Ten Conference team last year, and seven of their nine players earned U-M Athletic Academic Achievement. On the court, Michigan qualified for the NCAA Team Championship and finished the season listed No. 39 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings. The Wolverines reached the Big Ten Championship semifinals and posted a 14-11 overall record.
| | From left: U-M director of athletics Bill Martin, Larry Johnson and his wife Diane with women's tennis assistant coach Greg Novak, junior Kavitha Tipirneni and head coach Bitsy Ritt. |
The Leaders and Best Award was created by Johnson, who earned two varsity letters as a member of the U-M football team in the mid-1970s. In 1974, he was awarded the Arthur D. Robinson Award as the outstanding student on the football team. The next year, he earned the Fielding H. Yost Honor Award for Football. Johnson graduated in 1975 with a BSE in environmental engineering.
Contact: David Ablauf (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
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