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From: Big Ten Mailing List Manager mailing-lists@office.bigten.org Subject: Iowa's Gustafson and Penn State's Nickal Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year Date: July 3, 2019 at 8:15 AM To: [email protected]

For Immediate Release Contact: Jason Yellin, July 3, 2019 View Online: http://bit.ly/329MQFR

Iowa’s Gustafson and Penn State’s Nickal Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year Iowa women’s and Penn State wrestler claim honors.

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Iowa women’s basketball center was honored as the 2018-19 Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year, and Penn State wrestler was recognized as the 2018-19 Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year, the conference announced Wednesday.

Gustafson is the first Iowa student since Kristy Gleason (field hockey) in 1994 to be recognized as the Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year. She is the eighth basketball standout to claim the honor. Gustafson concluded her Iowa career as the most decorated Hawkeye in women’s basketball program history. She became the first Big Ten student to be named consensus national player of the year (, ESPN, Naismith and the Basketball Writers Association). Gustafson was named the Honda Sport Award winner for basketball and was one of three finalists for the Honda Cup, given to the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. She owns 16 Iowa school records including career marks for points (2,804) and rebounds (1,460). Gustafson was named the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Player of the Year and Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player in leading the Hawkeyes to the Big Ten Tournament title. She was awarded Iowa’s and Iowa Female Athlete of the Year in May. Gustafson led the nation in five categories as a senior including (27.8), field percentage (69.6), total points (1,001) and double-doubles (33). She also holds the conference career records for rebounds (1,460), percentage (.657) and double-doubles (88).

Nickal is the first Penn State student to be named Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year since fellow wrestler David Taylor was honored in 2014. He is the third Penn State male student to be recognized and 11th wrestler to win the award. Nickal was the 2019 NCAA champion at 197 pounds and was honored with the 2019 as the most outstanding college wrestler of the year. Nickal was named the 2019 Co-Big Ten Wrestler of the Year (with teammate Jason Nolf) following a season in which he claimed his third Big Ten title. Overall, he was 120-3 at Penn State with 59 pins, 12 technical falls and 23 majors. He was 19-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, winning three national titles. He earned the 2019 NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler accolade as he finished his senior season with a perfect 30-0 record. Nickal was part of four consecutive NCAA championship teams with the Nittany Lions, winning the crown in each of his competitive seasons at Penn State.

Gustafson and Nickal were among a field of nominees that included 11 national champions, 25 All- Americans, 16 Big Ten champions, 14 individuals who won Big Ten Player of the Year honors and six who collected a national player of the year accolade.

The Big Ten Conference has recognized a Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year since 1982 and first honored a Female Athlete of the Year in 1983. The Big Ten Athletes of the Year are selected by a panel of conference media members from nominations submitted by each institution.

The complete list of 2018-19 Athlete of the Year nominations, as well as the list of all-time winners for each award, can be found below.

2018-19 BIG TEN ATHLETE OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

SCHOOL MALE NOMINEE FEMALE NOMINEE Illinois Devin Quinn, track & field Jordyn Poulter, Andrew Gutman, soccer , Iowa , Megan Gustafson, basketball Maryland Donovan Pines, soccer Megan Taylor, lacrosse Devin Bush, football Kate Fahey, tennis Michigan State , basketball Asya Reynolds, track & field Minnesota Shane Wiskus, gymnastics Lexy Ramler, gymnastics Nebraska Anton Stephenson, gymnastics Mikaela Foecke, volleyball Northwestern Sebastian Rivera, wrestling Selena Lasota, lacrosse Ohio State Dwayne Haskins, football Sade Olatoye, track & field Penn State Bo Nickal, wrestling Ally McHugh, swimming Purdue Carsen Edwards, basketball Sherridan Atkinson, volleyball Rutgers , wrestling Sarah Johanek, rowing Morgan McDonald, cross Beata Nelson, swimming country/track & field

BIG TEN JESSE OWENS MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS 1982 - , Indiana, /cross country 1983 - , Iowa, wrestling 1984 - , Indiana, track and field 1985 - , Iowa, wrestling 1986 - , Iowa, football 1987 - , Indiana, basketball 1988 - , Michigan, baseball 1989 - , Michigan, basketball 1990 - Anthony Thompson, Indiana, football 1991 - , Michigan, swimming 1992 - , Michigan, football 1993 - , Minnesota, gymnastics 1994 - , Purdue, basketball 1995 - , Michigan, swimming 1996 - , Ohio State, football 1997 - , Ohio State, gymnastics 1998 - , Michigan, football 1999 - , Northwestern, golf 2000 - , Wisconsin, football 2001 - , Michigan State, 2002 - , Minnesota, ice hockey 2003 - Amer Delic, Illinois, tennis (co) 2003 - Amer Delic, Illinois, tennis (co) 2003 - Matt Lackey, Illinois, wrestling (co) 2004 - Damion Hahn, Minnesota, wrestling 2005 - Luis Vargas, Penn State, gymnastics 2006 - , Michigan, swimming 2007 - , Minnesota, wrestling 2008 - , Iowa, wrestling 2009 - , Northwestern, wrestling 2010 - , Ohio State, basketball 2011 - , Purdue, diving 2012 - , Michigan State, basketball 2013 - , Indiana, track and field 2014 - David Taylor, Penn State, wrestling 2015 - , Ohio State, wrestling 2016 - , Michigan State, basketball 2017 - , Ohio State, wrestling 2018 - Kyle Snyder, Ohio State, wrestling 2019 - Bo Nickal, Penn State, wrestling

BIG TEN FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS 1983 - Judi Brown, Michigan State, track and field 1984 - Lisa Ishikawa, Northwestern, softball 1985 - , Wisconsin, cross country/track 1986 - Stephanie Herbst, Wisconsin, cross country/track 1987 - Jennifer Averill, Northwestern, field hockey/lacrosse 1988 - Suzy Favor, Wisconsin, track and field/cross country 1989 - Suzy Favor, Wisconsin, track and field/cross country 1990 - Suzy Favor, Wisconsin, track and field/cross country 1991 - Julie Farrell-Ovenhouse, Michigan State, diving (co) 1991 - Joy Holmes, Purdue, basketball (co) 1992 - MaChelle Joseph, Purdue, basketball 1993 - Lara Hooiveld, Michigan, swimming 1994 - Kristy Gleason, Iowa, field hockey 1995 - , Ohio State, volleyball 1996 - Olga Kalinovskaya, Penn State, fencing 1997 - , Wisconsin, track and field (co) 1997 - Gretchen Hegener, Minnesota, swimming (co) 1998 - , Michigan, softball 1999 - -McCarty, Purdue, basketball 2000 - , Penn State, volleyball 2001 - , Purdue, basketball 2002 - , Penn State, soccer 2003 - , Illinois, track and field 2004 - , Penn State, basketball 2005 - , Michigan, softball 2006 - , Penn State, soccer 2007 - , Ohio State, basketball 2008 - , Northwestern, lacrosse 2009 - , Purdue, golf 2010 - , Penn State, volleyball 2011 - Shannon Smith, Northwestern, lacrosse 2012 - Christina Manning, Ohio State, track and field 2013 - , Minnesota, ice hockey 2014 - Dani Bunch, Purdue, track and field 2014 - Dani Bunch, Purdue, track and field 2015 - , Maryland, lacrosse 2016 - , Minnesota, basketball 2017 - Lilly King, Indiana, swimming 2018 - Lilly King, Indiana, swimming 2019 - Megan Gustafson, Iowa, basketball