University of Tennessee track & field national champion, All-American and school record-holder Dee Dee Trotter has been named the 2004 AOPi/Lady Vol Athlete of the Year, Women’s Athletics Director Joan Cronan announced Monday.
Trotter was selected from a field of nominees from each of the 10 women’s athletics teams at UT. The other candidates included the 2003-04 team (basketball), Brooke Novak (cross country), Violeta Retamoza (golf), Chelsea Pemberton (rowing), Keeley Dowling (soccer), Monica Abbott (softball), Jacque Fessel (basketball), Sabita Maharaj (tennis) and Kristen Andre (volleyball).
In 2004, Trotter raced to a pair of national championships, collected five All-America certificates and laid claim to a national collegiate record in the sprint medley relay. She also charted UT records indoors in the 200m, 400m, 4x400m relay and distance medley relay, and outdoors in the 400m, 4x400m relay and sprint medley relay.
“With so many of our teams having banner seasons and our department winning the SEC Women’s All-Sports Trophy for the first time, we certainly had several outstanding candidates from which to choose,” Cronan said. “They really made it a difficult decision, but clearly Dee Dee was very deserving of this award. Individually, she won two national championships this season, set numerous records, and she has played a major role in helping the track & field team return to national prominence.”
“I’m surprised and honored to receive this award,” Trotter said. “I have worked really hard, and I owe Coach Caryl (Smith, sprints coach) a lot for how she has trained me. We have a great relationship, on and off the track – she’s such an awesome coach. It’s been a great year for our team, and our expectation is that things are only going to get better.”
A product of Cedar Grove High School in Decatur, Ga., Trotter’s exemplary efforts were instrumental in elevating the Big Orange to team finishes of fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships and seventh at the NCAA Outdoor meet, marking the first time the UT women had posted dual top-10 finishes in a season since 1991. The indoor national result was the highest placing since the 1987 squad garnered a runner-up outcome.
Additionally, the Lady Vols ascended from ninth to second at the SEC Indoor Championships in one season, remarkably finishing only six points out of the top spot. As usual, Trotter was a big reason why, kicking in points in the 200 and 400 meters and the 4x400m relay with record-setting times in the latter two events.
At the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June, Trotter rocketed to the sixth-best 400-meter time ever recorded by a collegiate woman to seize UT’s first running event national title since 1987 and become the first 400m NCAA champ in Lady Vol history. Making headlines on the national scene, Trotter’s school- and stadium-record time of 50.32 unseated defending national champion Sanya Richards on her home track and enabled Trotter to take over the national lead in that event heading into the U.S. Olympic Trials. It also gave the Tennessean a shot of redemption after she finished a close second to Richards at NCAA Outdoors in 2003.

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