University of Minnesota Athletics
Shaughnessy and Nohelty Receive Medals of Honor
6/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Seniors Jenny Shaughnessy (swimming) and Matt Nohelty (baseball) were Minnesota's two recipients of the Big Ten Medal of Honor according to an announcement by the Big Ten Conference office on Wednesday, June 10.
The Big Ten Medal of honor was established in 1914 when the Big Ten endowed a Medal of Honor to be given annually to a student in the graduating class of each university that demonstrated proficiency in scholarship and athletics. In 1982, the Medal of Honor was expanded to include a senior female athlete from each institution.
This year, 22 student-athletes, representing 14 sports, were chosen for the Medal of Honor.
Shaughnessy, who is the first women's swimmer to claim the honors since Terri Jashinsky did so in 2000, competed in her fourth consecutive NCAA Championships this past March. She was a First-Team All-America honoree in the 800 free relay and earned honorable mention accolades in the 200 and 400 individual medleys and the 400 free relay. At the 2009 Big Ten Championships, she was named the swimmer of the meet after winning the 200 and 400 IM and the 400 and 800 free relays.
During the course of her career, Shaughnessy was an eight-time Big Ten Champion (200 and 400 IM, 400 and 800 free relays) and was a First-Team All-Big Ten award winner in all of her four years with the Maroon and Gold. One of the Gophers’ most versatile swimmers, Shaughnessy holds the school record in the 200 free (also a Big Ten record), 200 back, 200 IM, 400 IM along with the 400 and 800 free relays.
She was also a two-time team captain and was awarded the team’s most valuable swimmer and hardest worker twice and most improved as a freshman. Along with her athletic accomplishments, Shaughnessy was a top-five student-athlete, which is given to the athletes who have the best GPAs in the athletics department. She was also a CSCAA All-American and a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
Nohelty, who was the first baseball player to receive the honor since Dave Cosgrove in 1970, became the first Golden Gopher since Andy Hunter to be named All-Big Ten in all four years with the program. Nohelty was a Third-Team outfielder in 2006, first-team in 2007-08 and was a Third-Team All-Big Ten designated hitter this year. He led the Big Ten in runs scored (69), finished eighth in hits (83) and was second in the conference in stolen bases (26). In conference play, Nohelty was second in runs (29) and fifth in stolen bases (8). He finished the season batting .337 with 69 runs, 83 hits, 31 RBI, a .433 on-base percentage and 26 stolen bases.
In his career at Minnesota, Nohelty finished tied for eighth on the Golden Gopher career batting average list (.366), was fourth in at-bats (837), third in hits (306), fourth in runs scored (204) and second in stolen bases (92). In conference play, Nohelty set career school records in hits (154), runs (101) and stolen bases (41). He was also third in career Big Ten batting average in school history at .381, third in at-bats (404), tied for first in triples (6), eighth in total bases (180) and fifth in on-base percentage (.455).
Off the field, Nohelty is a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, a two-time First-Team Academic All-American (was also a Third-Team Academic All-American in 2007) and a three-time Top V honoree (for highest GPA among men's student-athletes at Minnesota). He is also currently one of 10 finalists up for the Lowe's Senior Class Leadership Award in baseball.
