Crusaders enjoy 2017 Athletic Awards Ceremony; Hampton repeats as Scholar-Athlete Recipient
IRVING, Texas – On Sunday the University of Dallas Athletics Department celebrated the fourth annual athletic banquet held at Haggar University Center on campus. Each coach for the 15 NCAA affiliated programs were asked to summarize the year for their teams. The team-voted Most Valuable Players (MVPS) were announced and handed out. Coaches also noted other conference achievements, program records, and student-athlete milestones.
Headlining the notables included: Jessie Koster from volleyball leading the NCAA in digs-per-game (7.49) for the second straight year, women’s basketball player Seana Stoia becoming the seventh player in the program to break both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career, and Michael Sarrat from men’s basketball having added his name to the program of those to garner over 1,000 points in a career.
Executive Vice President Dr. John Plotts gave a welcome introduction. He was followed by the school’s Athletics Director, Dick Strockbine, who made opening remarks. Strockbine congratulated the student-athletes on a the season and especially to the seniors that will be graduating in less than a month. Strockbine announced that 262 athletes represented the Crusaders on the court and field this 2016-17 academic school year.
After the coaches spoke on their programs, the Athletics Faculty Advisor, Dr. Thomas Jodziewicz, presented the 2016-17 Scholar-Athlete Award. This accolade was first implemented in 1984 to Greg Roper, a current University of Dallas Associate Professor of English. Since the award’s inception, there have been 17 different winners. The award is handed annually to the letter-winning varsity student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average; freshmen are not eligible.
For the second straight year, Trae Hampton from men’s soccer earned the achievement. The native of Paducah, Kentucky, is a rising senior and majoring in Biochemistry (Pre-med) with a concentration in Spanish. His cumulative GPA is the highest currently and he has lettered the last two seasons. His GPA also helped him claim spots on the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National All-Academic Team and Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Fall Student-Athlete Academic Honor Roll the past two years.
Hampton is the fifth member from the men’s soccer program to gain the award and is the eighth player to win multiple times. There are two alumni that have been named the Scholar-Athlete all three years eligible. Julie Brown from women’s tennis (1998-2001) and Theresa Smart (2008-2011) won three consecutive years. Smart represented women’s cross country the first two years and then was on softball in 2010-11.