Ray, Perry Collect Michigan Athlete of the Year Awards
6/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football, General, Women's Gymnastics
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan Athletic Department announced today (Tuesday, June 29) that senior/junior women's gymnast Elise Ray (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake HS) and senior football tailback Chris Perry (Advance, N.C./Fork Union Military, Va.) have been selected as its 2003-04 Male and Female Athletes of the Year. The pair was also nominated for the Big Ten Conference Suzy Favor Female and Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year awards.
Perry
Ray
A three-time NCAA individual champion, Ray came back for a successful 2004 season after sitting out the 2003 season due to injury. The 2004 uneven bars national champion, Ray earned three All-America honors in the all-around, balance beam and uneven bars. She won five all-around titles this season including victories at the Big Ten Championships (March 20) and the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships (April 3).
Ray's all-around score (39.800) at the Big Ten Championships included event titles on bars (10.0), beam (9.950) and floor exercise (9.950). Her perfect score on bars makes her the only U-M gymnast in program history to record a perfect 10.00 on three events (vault, uneven bars, floor exercise) and a 9.975 on the fourth (balance beam). Her all-around (39.438) and balance beam season averages (9.855) rank first in all-time U-M history, while her uneven bars average (9.896) ranks second.
Ray was first-team All-Big Ten and Academic All-Big Ten in 2004. She was also named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week twice this season and helped guide the Wolverines to their sixth straight Big Ten championship.
Riding the momentum of his first 1,000-yard rushing season and Outback Bowl Most Valuable Player Award as a junior, Perry capped his career in style as a senior, becoming the first Wolverine to win the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top running back and earning consensus All-America honors. The Bo Schembechler Most Valuable Player of the 2003 football team, Perry was a finalist for the Heisman Memorial Trophy, placing fourth in the balloting.
Perry led the Big Ten with 128.8 rushing yards per game and was named the 2003 Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Year and the Chicago Tribune Silver Football Award recipient as the Big Ten's MVP. He set the Michigan season rushing attempts record (338) while placing tied for second in rushing touchdowns (18) and fourth in yardage (1,674). He set the single-game rushing attempt record with 51 carries for 219 yards at Michigan State and set a U-M running back mark with 11 receptions for 122 yards at Minnesota. Perry added U-M single-season records for receptions by a running back (44) and all-purpose yards (2,041). He finished his career fifth on the school's career rushing list with 3,696 yards, second in carries (811) and third in touchdowns (41).
An Advance, N.C., native, Perry was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals as the 26th overall pick in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft.
Ray joins Beth Wymer (1995) and Sarah Cain (2000) as the only women's gymnasts to earn the school's Athlete of the Year award, while Perry is the ninth football player to earn the award.
Players Mentioned
