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Matt Weise, Sarah Schmidt Honored by Big Ten
 
Schmidt earns Big Ten Athlete of the Year while Weise has been dubbed Coach of the Year.
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<i>Sarah Schmidt became the Spartans' second-straight Big Ten Athlete of the Year. </i>
 
Sarah Schmidt became the Spartans' second-straight Big Ten Athlete of the Year.
 
 

May 6, 2009

Complete Big Ten Rowing Championship Coverage
Big Ten Release

EAST LANSING, Mich. - For the second consecutive season, the Michigan State rowing program saw its head coach, Matt Weise, and one of its student-athletes take home the Big Ten's two most prestigious awards. Weise was honored as the Big Ten Coach of the Year while senior Sarah Schmidt (Grosse Ile, Mich.) was named Big Ten Athlete of the Year. This marks the third time in his five years at Michigan State that Weise has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year. It is also the first time that a coach has repeated as Big Ten Coach of the Year since Michigan's Mark Rothstein did in 2000 and 2001.

Weise has helped develop MSU into one of the top rowing programs in the nation in his five years as head coach. Weise joins Rothstein as the only coach in the league to take home the Coach of the Year award on three separate occasions since rowing was sponsored as a Big Ten sport in 2000. Weise has won the Big Ten title in three of his first five seasons at the helm of the Spartan program and he has also taken the team to the NCAA National Regatta in four of his first five seasons.

Schmidt becomes the Spartans' fourth Big Ten Athlete of the Year, and second in a row, after former Spartan Anne Cowan took home the award last season. Schmidt and Cowan have combined to give MSU back-to-back Big Ten Athlete of the Year awards for the first time in program history and it is the first time that a school has taken home back-to-back honors since UM's Erin Kopicki and Heather Mandoli took home the awards in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Schmidt rowed as a member of the varsity eight crew that took home its second consecutive Big Ten Championship on Saturday. Schmidt, who sat primarily in the sixth seat throughout the season, was also named to the All-Big Ten First Team after the Big Ten Championships on Saturday.

 

 

Other notable individual honorees for the Spartans include Lauren Gamble (Commerce Township, Mich.) and Amanda Dunnill (Flushing, Mich.), who were both honored as All-Big Ten First Team selections, and Nancy Diehl (St. Clair Shotes, Mich) and Ashley Peach (St. John's Newfoundland), who were on the All-Big Ten Second Team. Senior Ashley Wenneman (Grosse Ile, Mich.) was honored as Michigan State's recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award to round out the individual award winners.

MSU stayed at No. 3 in this week's CRCA Coaches poll, as announced Wednesday. The Spartans did however receive five first-place votes in the poll, moving them to within two points of second-place Cal, who did not receive any first-place votes. The Spartans also saw their varsity eight boat reclaim the nation's top spot in the cMax poll, which attempts to rank the nation's fastest crews.

The Spartans will continue their postseason next weekend at the NCAA South/Central Sprints, hosted by the University of Tennessee in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on May 16.