BATON ROUGE — All-American LSU sprinter Peta-Gaye Dowdie was honored for the second time in three seasons when the 2000 Louisiana Athletic Directors Awards for college athletes were announced Saturday at a luncheon at the Hilton Hotel.
The awards luncheon was part of the annual Louisiana Sports Writers Association convention which concluded Saturday evening in Baton Rouge.
LSU led the awards with seven athletes chosen in the 13 categories with Southeastern having two winners and Tulane, Louisiana Tech, the University of New Orleans and University of Louisiana-Lafayette one each.
Dowdie, who won the award in 1998, keeps LSU’s streak alive of 14 straight women’s track and field LADA winners. The senior was the high point scorer on the women’s side at the NCAA Outdoor Championships where LSU won the title. She captured the 200-meter dash, finished second in the 100 meters and anchored the runner-up 4 x 100 meter relay. Dowdie, who won the SEC championship in the 100-meters and anchored the winner SEC champion 400 meter relay, was the first woman since 1996 to win the SEC indoor titles in both the 60 and 200 meters.
Southeastern Louisiana University goalkeeper Allison Holladay, a winner for two straight years, and Dowdie, a two-time LADA winner in a three-year period, brings the total number of repeat winners to 27 since the awards began starting with the 1984-85 school year.
Holladay, in fact, is the only winner of the soccer award in the two years the Athletic Directors Association has named a winner in the sport. The unanimous first-team All-Louisiana selection by the sports writers, the senior was first-team All-Southland Conference, finishing the season ranked ninth nationally in goals against average (0.64). She led the Lady Lions to its first regular season title, most wins in school history (11) and a 13-game unbeaten streak. She keyed SLU’s defense which ranked eighth in the nation in goals against average.
Other winners announced at the luncheon include: Baseball – Brad Cresse, LSU; Men’s Basketball – Stromile Swift, LSU; Women’s Basketball – Grace Daley, Tulane; Football – Tim Rattay, Louisiana Tech; Men’s Golf – Jacques Chevallier, Southeastern Louisiana; Women’s Golf – Lisette Lee, LSU; Softball – Ashlee Ducote, LSU; Men’s Tennis – Eduardo Gordilho, Louisiana-Lafayette; Women’s Tennis – Bruna Colosio, LSU; Men’s Track and Field – Russ Buller, LSU; Volleyball – Jessica Perdue, New Orleans.
LSU’s Cresse had the game-winning hit which drove in the run giving the Tigers its fifth national title in 10 years. The senior led the nation in home runs (30) and RBI (104) and earned first-team All-SEC and All-America honors, while also being named a finalist for National Player of the Year honors.
Swift, in men’s basketball, helped LSU to its first SEC Championship since 1991 and its first Sweet Sixteen appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1987. The sophomore averaged 16.2 points per game and 8.2 rebounds in earning Co-SEC Player of the Year, LSWA Player of the Year, second team All-America honors and last week, the No. 2 selection by the Vancouver Grizzlies in the National Basketball Association draft.
Women’s basketball choice Daley is now plying her trade in the WNBA after finishing her career as the all-time scorer in Tulane history. The Conference USA Player of the Year was the first in the league to win all five individual awards in her career (Freshman, Defensive Player, Sixth Player, Player of the Year and Tournament MVP). She was Kodak All-American and was in the top five in at least seven league categories. She scored 20 points or more in 17 games this past season.
The football choice was Tech’s second winner in three years as quarterback Rattay set records that may not soon be broken. He earned LSWA Player of the Year honors in being named a finalist for the Johnny Unitas and Davey O’Brien awards. Rattay completed 342 of 516 passes for 3,922 yards and 35 touchdowns in 10 games, including a 29-28 win over Alabama and he finished his career No. 2 in the NCAA record book for career passing yards, total offense and touchdowns.
In men’s golf, SLU’s Chevallier, in his junior season, led the Lions to its second SLC title in the last three years and a berth in the NCAA Central regional. He was named the SLC Player of the Year and co-Louisiana Player of the Year. He led the league with a 72.33 stroke average and won the Deep South Intercollegiate to go with three top five and five top-10 finishes.
On the women’s side, LSU’s Lee has had to update her resume’ on almost a weekly basis as post-season awards continue to come in for the senior. She was named first-team All-SEC, honorable mention All-American, Academic All-American and GTE first-team Academic All-American. She was the LSWA Player of the Year, won the Edith Munson Award from the National Golf Coaches Association as the top scholar-athlete and captured the prestigious Diana Shore Award from the Ladies Professional Golfers Association. Finally, she was named the recipient of the SEC’s Boyd McWhorter Award, which carries a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship.
LSU’s senior softball third baseman, Ducote, set LSU records for batting average in earning league Player of the Year while hitting .431. The All-American had a season record for hits (91), while also leading the team in runs scored (59), hits, doubles (14), triples (8) and a school record 63 RBI. Ducote, now playing for Akron in the women’s pro league, led the Tigers to a second straight SEC regular season championship and to the final game of the NCAA Regional.
Junior Gordilho won the men’s tennis honor after leading the Cajuns to the NCAA Regional at Texas A&M where the squad advanced to the championship match. He became only the second Louisiana-Lafayette player to earn All-American honors. Gordilho’s ranking jumped from 67th to sixth in the month of April and had a 16-8 record during the spring season in singles.
LSU sophomore Colosio received double All-America honors while finishing the season ranked among the nation’s elite in both singles and doubles competition. She ended the season as the ninth-ranked singles player with a 38-9 overall record and a 22-3 mark in dual play. Colosio also finished the season as a member of the fourth-ranked doubles team.
The men’s track and field choice, Buller, finished his LSU career with championships in both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships becoming the first LSU man since 1933 to win an NCAA title in the event. He also won the SEC indoor and outdoor titles, the Penn and the Texas relay championships. His personal record in the pole vault is a very fine 18-8 3/4 and with his win in the SEC outdoors, he became the first LSU man to win four straight SEC titles.
In volleyball, Privateer junior Perdue had an outstanding campaign, earning All-Louisiana and All-Sun Belt honors while becoming the first UNO player since 1993 to reach 500 kills in a season. She finished with a .215 hitting percentage, 239 digs, 66 blocks and 25 aces, leading the league in kills, kills per game and had 10 matches of 20 or more kills.
The athletes were nominated by athletic directors at the Louisiana schools and voted on by the athletic directors of the state. The directors were not allowed to vote for nominees from their school.