Big Ten Medal of Honor Nominees: Rauschert and Thompson
June 20, 2015 | Women's Rowing
June 20, 2015
The Badgers enjoyed their share of success in 2014-15 and UWBadgers.com is honoring the best student-athletes, teams, performances and moments of the year. Over the next few weeks, we'll unveil the best of the Badgers in five categories: Athletes of the Year (June 9-12), Big Ten Medal of Honor (June 15-20), Team Achievements of the Year (June 22-26), Games of the Year (June 29-July 2) and Plays of the Year (July 6-10). | 2014-15 Year in Review??
Today we feature Big Ten Medal of Honor nominees Anne Rauschert from rowing and Dominique Thompson from volleyball.
The Big Ten Medal of Honor award is presented annually at each Big Ten institution to a male and female student-athlete in the graduating class who has demonstrated proficiency in scholarship and athletics. The conference's most exclusive award, it was the first of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence.
Anne Rauschert
Rowing is the ultimate team sport, with individuals working together as one to move a boat as fast as they can. That fact makes it difficult and often counterproductive to single out individuals from the sport when recognizing athletes.
The season is over and so is the Badger career of Rauschert, so no harm in singling out this rower. A second-team All-American in 2014, the Bushnell, Illinois, native boasts a distinguished career both on and off the water.
A three-time Academic All-Big Ten rower as an art major, Rauschert was part of UW's NCAA contingent for three of her four years as a Badger, rowing in the varsity eight in each appearance from her sophomore through senior seasons.
With Rauschert in the boat, the eight finished 13th at the 2015 NCAA championships, to go along with a 17th-place finish in 2014 and 16th-place result in 2013.
Winner of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award in 2015, she was one of the team captains in 2014 and became the program's 10th All-American as a second-team member. She was a first-team Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association All-Region Rower, as well as a second-team All-Big Ten rower in 2014. She was also part of a Big Ten Boat of the Week during the 2014 campaign.
The summer prior, Rauschert won a gold medal in the women's eight at the 2013 World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Linz, Austria.
A three-time high school conference champion high jumper, Rauschert also owns a silver medal from the 2013 Big Ten Championships as part of UW's runner-up boat in the second varsity eight.
Dominique Thompson
Thompson learned from an early age to give back to her community. Her father Darrell Thompson, a former Green Bay Packer running back, is the president of Bolder Options, a non-profit organization that helps at-risk youth in the Minneapolis area.
Dominique hopes to follow in her father's footsteps, opening her own non-profit organization or being the director of a foundation to help multiple non-profits. She took the first step towards doing that when she graduated in December with a bachelor's degree in community and non-profit organizations.
A four-year starter for the Badger volleyball team, Thompson played in more than 130 matches in her career and started more than 100. The 5-11 middle blocker averaged 2.20 kills per set for her career, hitting .301, which ranks sixth all time on the UW career record list. The Plymouth, Minnesota, native also finished 10th with 383 block assists, tallying 424 blocks in her career, averaging 0.94 per set.
Thompson capped off an incredible career as a 2014 honorable mention All-American and an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection. She earned six all-tournament honors, including one MVP honor, over her four years.
Thompson was also a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, graduating with a grade-point average better than 3.0.
She will have to put off her non-profit goals for a while as Thompson will be playing professionally in Denmark beginning this fall. But at some point, this Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor nominee will use her athletic and academic career at Wisconsin to make the world a better place.
Players Mentioned
