Vanderkaay, Ritter Named Michigan Athletes of the Year
6/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Swimming & Diving, Softball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan Athletic Department announced Tuesday (June 13) senior NCAA champion swimmer Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) and senior All-America pitcher Jennie Ritter (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) as its 2006 Male and Female Athletes of the Year. The pair will now be among 22 nominees for the Big Ten Conference Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year and Suzy Favor Female Athlete of the Year awards; one male and one female are nominated from each conference member institution.
Ritter
Vanderkaay
This marks the second such honor for Ritter, who was the 2005 Big Ten Conference Suzy Favor Female Athlete of the Year. She is the first student-athlete since swimmer Tom Dolan in 1996 to repeat as U-M Athlete of the Year and is the first female student-athlete to win back-to-back honors since swimmer Ann Colloton in 1990. Ritter is the second Wolverine pitcher to win two U-M Female Athlete of the Year awards, joining Sara Griffin, who was Michigan's 1996 and 1998 Female Athlete of the Year.
Ritter is a two-time All-America first team honoree and the only pitcher in U-M softball history to earn a pair of All-America honors as a pitcher, let alone a pair of first-team accolades. One of 10 finalists for the 2006 USA Softball College Player of the Year award, Ritter was All-Big Ten first team for the second year in a row and was the Big Ten Tournament MVP after becoming the only pitcher in conference history to start and win every game of the tournament and shut out all three opponents. She finishes her collegiate career as one of the most decorated Wolverines in program history and one of the top pitchers in the history of NCAA softball.
Ritter is U-M's all-time leader in strikeouts (1,205), shutouts (43), no-hitters (5), innings pitched (835.0), appearances (151) and starts (115), and she ranks second all-time in wins (98) and complete games (90). She erased her own single-season strikeout record with 451 K's in 2006 while twice setting a new high for strikeouts in a single game with 18 against Central Michigan (April 18) and 19 against No. 20 Oklahoma (May 21) in the deciding game of the NCAA Region 9 Championship.
Ritter hit double-digit strikeouts 26 times in 2006, posted a 0.77 earned-run average, and held opposing hitters to .139 batting. Ritter recorded the first postseason no-hitter in U-M softball history in Michigan's 4-0 win over Youngstown State in the opening round of the NCAA Region 9 Championship.
The 500-yard freestyle NCAA national champion in 2006, Vanderkaay capped off his collegiate career with four All-America honors and four Big Ten Conference titles. At the NCAA Championships, he finished no lower than second in his three individual events, winning the 500 free and finishing runner-up in the 200 and 1,650 freestyle. He also led off the second-place 800-yard freestyle relay and was part of two additional All-America honorable mention relay teams.
Vanderkaay broke an 11-year-old NCAA, American and U.S. Open record in the 500 free at the national championship, a mark held by U-M's Tom Dolan since 1995. A team tri-captain, Vanderkaay earned his third straight Big Ten Swimmer of the Year award in 2006 after winning all three of his individual events at the championship meet, in addition to the 800 free relay. He was twice named the national and Big Ten Swimmer of the Week in 2006.
A 16-time All-American, Vanderkaay has won five NCAA titles and 14 Big Ten titles in his career and was the 2003 Big Ten Freshman of the Year. He is the third-fastest American man ever in the 400-meter freestyle and fifth-fastest in the 200-meter freestyle. He won gold medals in the 800-meter freestyle relay at the 2004 Olympic Games and 2005 World Championships.
Players Mentioned
