March 1, 2006
The Big Ten office announced the 2006 All-Big Ten women's indoor track and field teams, as well as individual award winners today. Illinois' Yvonne Mensah was selected as Athlete of the Championships while Penn State's Jennifer Leatherman was named Athlete of the Year. Golden Gopher Heather Dorniden earned the Freshman of the Year title and Michigan's James Henry was named Coach of the Year for the second-consecutive season.
Mensah helped Illinois to a second place finish at the Big Ten Championships as she swept three individual titles and was named to her third-straight All-Conference team. The Illini finished just 14.67 points behind defending champion Michigan while Mensah claimed gold in the 60-meter dash in 07.38 seconds and commanded the field events as she finished first in both the long jump and triple jump with marks of 20'01.50" and 42'00.75", respectively. PSU's Leatherman claimed both throwing events, recording a shot put distance of 53'05.00" and a 74'10.50" weight throw mark. The Nittany Lion was named Athlete of the Week twice this season while Mensah earned the weekly laurel once. Golden Gopher Heather Dorniden brought home Freshman of the Year honors for Minnesota after winning the 800-meter run in 2:08.66.
For Henry, this marks the sixth league coaching honor of his career. He has led the Wolverines to seven Big Ten Championships and has produced 54 All-Conference honorees in 21 years at Michigan. Among the 2006 All-Big Ten selections, 10 return from last year's first and second team squads.
Athlete of the Championships: Yvonne Mensah, Illinois
Athlete of the Year: Jennifer Leatherman, Penn State
Freshman of the Year: Heather Dorniden, Minnesota
Coach of the Year: James Henry, Michigan
First Team
Yvonne Mensah, ILL
LaNeisha Waller, ILL
Kineke Alexander, IOWA
Katie Erdman, MICH
Nicole Edwards, MICH
Geena Gall, MICH
Amber Hay, MICH
Erin Webster, MICH
Alyson Kohlmeier, MICH
Heather Dorniden, MINN
Liz Roehrig, MINN
Jessie Stringer, OSU
Aleesha Barber, PSU
Dominique Blake, PSU
Shana Cox, PSU
Jennifer Leatherman, PSU
Briene Simmons, PSU
Blair Luethmers, WIS
Second Team
Nina Henson, ILL
Cassie Hunt, ILL
Carlene Robinson, ILL
Krista Anderson, IOWA
Meghan Armstrong, IOWA
Ashley Granger, IOWA
Tiffany Johnson, IOWA
Lindsey McCalla, IOWA
Shannon Stanley, IOWA
Stephanie Linz
Tiffany Ofili, MICH
Bettie Wade, MICH
Rebecca Walter, MICH
Jennifer Williams
Christin Kingsley, MINN
Andrea Smith, MINN
Keturah Lofton, OSU
Janine Zylinski, OSU
Shuntia Lucas, WIS
Sportsmanship Honorees
Pam Wolf - Illinois
Stacey Clausing - Indiana
Tiffany Johnson - Iowa
Rebecca Walter - Michigan
Nicole Bush - Michigan State
Jessica Stephan - Minnesota
Ashley Vanntta - Ohio State
Sara Shoaff - Penn State
Jocelyn Lindsey - Purdue
Anna Evans - Wisconsin
