Column: Ress favorite to win IU Male Athlete of the Year

With the athletic season underway, IU is once again spitting out top notch talents in all sports.

But there are just a select few who rise above the rest, and only one can win the IU Male Athlete of the Year award.

This year, the top talent is particularly better than years past, with names like sophomore Cody Zeller, sophomore Eriq Zavaleta and senior Derek Drouin gracing Indiana with their expertise.

Another athlete looking to win the prestigious award is junior Eric Ress.

Ress, a swimmer from Hebron, Conn., is flying under the radar after he didn’t compete for IU last year due to Olympic qualifying. In the French trials, he was 0.3 seconds away from qualifying for an Olympic berth.

Ress will be the backbone of a men’s swimming and diving team that has a serious chance of competing for the national championship.

He has continued to improve during the last couple years, and it’s going to be his winning experience that will propel him to athlete of the year.

In his sophomore year, Ress became the Big Ten Champion in the 100 backstroke, posting a time of 45.11, the second-fastest time in IU history in that event and a Big Ten Championship record. He was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Year in 2011 and finished second in the NCAA Championships in the 100 and 200 backstroke, setting a school record in the 200.

Ress also has the heart to earn the honor this year.

Just before the Big Ten Championships, Ress suffered a broken hand. That didn’t hold him back as he hit the pool anyway and went on to finish second in the 200 backstroke.

Ress can easily be a 50-point scorer this year. That’s 50 points the Hoosiers could use to propel themselves into the national title race.

Arguably, Ress is more important to his team than athletes such as Zeller and Drouin.

If this were a normal year, Ress would be the favorite to win the award, but this year is exceptional. Ress will have to put up with a field IU hasn’t seen since the early 2000s.

Zeller is the most obvious name to win the award as the most talented player on the basketball team, which is a national favorite to win the NCAA Championship.

Zavaleta is the best goal-scorer and overall player on a men’s soccer team that is consistently a contender.

Drouin comes fresh off a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games in the high jump and will have an extreme impact on the men’s track and field team this year.

And I can’t leave out Andy Bayer, the defending champion of the award. He will once again contend and will look to repeat as NCAA champion of the 1,500-meter for the track and field team.

But Ress can not be counted out. He was nearly an Olympian this summer and will surely put his team into the discussion of the NCAA Championships.

And despite the competition, Ress will do what he does best: rise above and win.

­— zstavis@indiana.edu