MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University student-athletes and athletic department staff celebrated the athletic and academic achievements of the 2016-17 academic year at the annual Blue and Golden Globe Awards, held at the Waterfont Place Hotel on Tuesday evening.
Fifteen individual student-athletes, three teams and one coach were honored for various accomplishments in the classroom, in the community and on the field or court.
“We’ve had great achievements in competition and in the classroom this year,” Director of Athletics Shane Lyons said. “That’s a testament to the quality of student-athletes we have here at West Virginia University, as well as to the hard work and dedication they put forth throughout the year. I would like to congratulate each and every one of our student-athletes and staff members on their success this year.”
UAB football’s Timothy Alexander was the keynote speaker at the ceremony. A promising prep player, Alexander was paralyzed in a car accident in 2006. He went on to earn an honorary spot on the Blazers’ football team, and helped to resurrect the program after it was disbanded in 2014.
Eight student-athletes were honored for perfect grade-point averages. Marah Bieger (women’s swimming), Amelie Currat (women’s swimming), Anna French (women’s cross country/track), Elizabeth Gratz (rifle), Andrea Pettit (women’s cross country/track), Abigail Rosiello (women’s tennis), Bianca St. Georges (women’s soccer) and Elizabeth Young (rowing) all carry 4.0 cumulative GPAs.
Kadeisha Buchanan of the women’s soccer team was named the Female Athlete of the Year, while football’s Justin Arndt was named the Male Athlete of the Year. Buchanan helped the women’s soccer team to a national runner-up finish and earned a bronze medal for Canada at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She was honored as the nation’s top collegiate player with the 2016 Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy and also claimed the 2016 espnW and TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Year honors in addition to a slew of other honors. After starting his career as a walk-on, Arndt finished his senior season ranked 11th in total tackles and 14th in solo tackles in the Big 12, leading the Mountaineers with 80 total stops in the regular season. He was the winner of the Ed Pastilong MVP award.
Women’s soccer head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown earned Coach of the Year accolades. Izzo-Brown guided the Mountaineers to a No. 1 overall ranking during the season and the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers advanced to the College Cup finals, finishing as the national runner-up. Additionally, Izzo-Brown was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year as well as the NSCAA Central Regional Staff of the Year.
The women’s soccer team took home the Match of the Year for its 1-0 win over No. 6 North Carolina in the College Cup semifinals.
Volleyball’s Payton Caffrey was honored as the Rookie of the Year. A freshman outside hitter, Caffrey led the Mountaineers in kills and ranked near the top of the Big 12 in that category. She earned five Big 12 Freshman of the Week honors during the season, and was named to the Big 12 All-Conference First Team before claiming the AVCA’s Midwest Region Freshman of the Year award.
Rifle and women’s cross country took home the Team Highest GPA award for the spring 2016/fall 2016 semesters.
Football’s Mike Molina and women’s swimming’s Emma Skelley came away with the Male and Female Student-Athlete Community Service awards.
The men’s basketball team claimed the Team Award for Community Service. The Mountaineers participated in a number of community initiatives, including visits to WVU Children’s Hospital, feeding out of work miners in Boone County and hosting a field day at a local child care center.
The rifle team earned the Top of the Mountain Award as the team that best represents West Virginia on and off the field. The award is equal parts athletic, academic and service, and goes to the team that best supports WVU athletics in competition. The No.1-ranked Mountaineers won their fifth-straight NCAA National Championship, while a pair of freshmen claimed individual NCAA titles in Morgan Phillips and Milica Babic. The team also tied for highest GPA in the athletic department, while Elizabeth Gratz won the Elite 90 Award as the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at the NCAA finals.
Rifle’s Ginny Thrasher won the Individual Performance of the Year. Thrasher, who was nominated for the AAU Sullivan Award this week, earned the first gold medal of the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 10m air rifle competition.
Allison Lasnicki of the women’s track and field team claimed the Teammate of the Year honor. Lasnicki is in her seventh year of collegiate competition due to injuries and is used by her teammates as an example of perseverance, dedication and positivity.
