IU’s Lilly King again goes where no one has gone before



By Pete DiPrimio

Lilly King once again breaks new ground.

Are you surprised?

This time, Indiana’s superstar swimmer and Olympic gold medalist is the Big Ten female athlete of the year.

No Hoosier woman has ever won this award, although five guys have.

Well, they’ve won the conference male athlete of the year award, and not the female athlete of the year honor because … well …. just because.

Anyway, King followed last summer’s Olympic success in Brazil with a big season for the Hoosiers. She was the national champ in the 100-meter breaststroke (in a record time of 56.71 seconds) and the 200 breaststroke (a record time of 2:03.18) for the second straight year. No other Big Ten swimmer has ever won four individual national titles.

King is the first swimmer to win consecutive 100 and 200 breaststroke titles since USC’s Rebecca Soni did it in 2008-09.

King also earned four All-America honors. She led the Hoosiers to an eighth-place finish in the NCAA meet, the second-best showing in school history.

Before that she was named Big Ten swimmer of the championships and conference swimmer of the year after winning three individual events in the conference meet, plus taking first as part of the 400 medley relay team

As for the 2016 Olympics, King won gold in the 100 breaststroke (a record time of 1:04.93) and the 400 medley relay. She also won USA Swimming’s Golden Goggle Award for breakout performer of the year.

"It is hard to believe what Lilly King has accomplished in her short two years at Indiana University," 
IU swim coach Ray Looze said in a university release. "I admire the positive female role model she has become in Bloomington. Her confidence and courage are traits we want all our athletes to emulate at IU. She is a pleasure to both coach and have on a team and we look forward to her very bright future."

For the record, IU guys Jim Spivey (1982), Sunder Nix (1984), Steve Alford (1987), Anthony Thompson (1990) and Derek Drouin (2013) previously won as the Big Ten’s top male athlete.

Also for the record, the Big Ten has named a top male athlete since 1982. The first female award was presented a year later.

Finally, the award winners are determined by a panel of conference media members after each school has submitted nominations.

In case you’re wondering, Ohio State heavyweight wrestler Kyle Snyder was the Big Ten male athlete of the year. He went 17-0 last season to win his second straight conference and NCAA championships.

Like King, Snyder also had a gold medal winning performance. He took the heavyweight crown in Rio to become the U.S.’s youngest Olympic wrestling champion.

To understand how hard it was to win this award, King and Snyder were among a pool of candidates that included nine national champions, 25 All-Americans, seven Big Ten champs, three 2016 Olympic qualifiers and nine national players of the year.

So now you know.

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