Olympian Peter Vanderkaay was named the 2006 Big Ten Conference Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year, as announced by the Big Ten office on June 26. The Big Ten has recognized a Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year since 1982.

A five-time NCAA national champion and 16-time All-American at the University of Michigan, Vanderkaay repeated as the 500-yard freestyle NCAA champion and earned four All-America honors in 2006. In winning the 500, he broke an 11-year-old NCAA, American and U.S. Open record, a mark held by Michigan’s Tom Dolan.

Vanderkaay finished no lower than second in his three individual events at the NCAA Championship, winning the 500 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. For the third consecutive year, Vanderkaay was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Year after winning titles in all three of his individual events (200-, 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle), as well as the 800-yard freestyle relay.

Vanderkaay is the seventh Michigan student-athlete to be named the Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year and is the third Michigan swimmer, joining a pair of fellow Olympic gold medalists in Mike Barrowman (1991) and Tom Dolan (1995), both of whom are members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. The last Wolverine to earn the Jesse Owens Award was Charles Woodson in 1998 when he won the Heisman Trophy and led Michigan to the Associated Press national title.

A 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 800-meter freestyle relay, and a gold medalist in the same event at the 2005 World Championships, Vanderkaay is the third-fastest American man ever in the 400m freestyle and the fifth-fastest in the 200m freestyle. He majored in general biology and is continuing to train with Club Wolverine, and head coach Bob Bowman for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team trials.