March 3, 2011 - 5:39pm
Cameron, Zimmerman secure Michigan athletic honors
BY BY LUKE PASCH
In a year filled will football and basketball frustrations, Michigan’s small sports continued to be a bright spot for the athletic department.
And a pair of Wolverine juniors received the University’s Athletes of the Year award for leading their respective teams deep into the postseason — gymnast Chris Cameron and volleyball setter Lexi Zimmerman.
Cameron may be coach Kurt Golder’s best all-around athlete in his 14 years at the helm of men’s gymnastics.
En route to the program’s fourth national title this season, Cameron captured the NCAA all-around title, an individual honor that no Michigan gymnast had received since 1963. He earned All-American honors in both the still rings and parallel bars events, and he was the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year.
Zimmerman — who is currently an opinion columnist at The Michigan Daily — became the first volleyball player to earn the award, as she led the Wolverines to their first ever Elite Eight appearance before being down by Hawaii in the NCAA tournament. She was selected for the first teams of All-Big Ten and AVCA All-America.
In her upcoming senior year, there is a good chance that she will surpass the program’s all-time assists leader, as she needs just 462 more to reach that mark. In 2009, she led the Big Ten with 11.04 assists per set.
The Barrington, Ill native has been a workhorse ever since she arrived in Ann Arbor — coach Mark Rosen has started her in each of her career’s 107 matches.
