Awards fly at athlete banquet
USU’s Student Athletic Advisory Committee is donating this year’s funds from their annual “Students Athlete Award Banquet Honoring the Best of the Best” to Relay for Life. This year’s annual Athlete Award Banquet was held Wednesday in the TSC Ballroom.
The Student Athletic Advisory Committee donates the admissions toward a charitable cause every year.
“This year is a little different,” said Amelia Montoya, a senior gymnast. “We are doing Relay for Life as student athletes so we are bringing everyone together, whereas before we did it separately, like each team did it. And I think that’s this year we are doing it a little different just to show that we are family, like a whole Aggie family.”
USU holds Relay for Life in the Fieldhouse every year to raise funds for cancer research, said Cami Montgomery, a senior soccer player.
“Relay for life is close to everyones hearts because it is for cancer,” Montoya said.
Besides making the charitable donations by the Student Athletic Advisory Committee possible, the banquet is also used to highlight athletes who have excelled in their sport.
“Sometimes people just think it’s like an easy thing we do, but we put so much time and effort and it’s really like a hard thing for us to do,” Montoya said. “So I think it just shows all the hard work we have done over the years by just giving a thanks to those student athletes who stand out.”
There were awards in 14 different categories given in the banquet, each winner selected through a series of nominations.
The awards began with Male Walk On of the Year Award, presented to football’s Cam Webb. The Female Walk On of the Year was soccer’s Jackie Tillotson. Male Newcomer of the Year was football’s Kyler Fackrell. Female Newcomer of the Year Award was volleyball’s Elle Brainard.
Graduate Assistant Trainer of the Year Award was presented to Laura Parry. Mike Williams was presented with an award for all of his work with Danny Berger’s incident in December. Graduate Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year Award was presented to Micah Cloward. Fan of the Year was presented to Big Blue, Jordan Rampersad.
Best Individual Performance was presented to football’s Kerwynn Williams. Best Team Performance of the Year Award was presented to the football team for the Utah game. Best Upset of the Year Award went to the soccer team for their game against Denver in the WAC Tournament. The Best Overall Season Award was presented to the football team. The Female Athlete of the Year Award was presented to soccer keeper Ashlyn Mulford. The Male Athlete of the Year Award went to quarterback Chuckie Keeton.
– jerawood@aggiemail.usu.edu