BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU rolled out the red carpet, literally, on Thursday night as Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers from all of WKU's sport programs joined in an evening of dinner, highlights, memories and of course, awards.
Emceed by former WKU letterman Doug Gorman, WKU Athletics handed out 20 awards ranging from Scholar-Athlete of the Year to Rookie of the Year to Team of the Year. Beginning with a dinner and photo opportunity on the floor of E.A. Dinner Arena, WKU's student-athletes celebrated the achievements of their fellow red towel wavers.
The awards ceremony itself was held across the Avenue of Champions in the Downing Student Union Auditorium.
Beginning with the Community Outreach Award, awarded by "Hope for Harlie's" Harlie Bryant to volleyball's Sydney Engle and by WKU Best Buddies John Michael Huffman to football's Julien Lewis, the football team took home the overall community service award.
Academically, a two-way tie for the men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year resulted in baseball's Ben Morrison and football's Nicholas Coffey taking home joint honors. On the women's side, soccer's Sarah Gorham's extensive academic resume netted her the honor.
After becoming the first 1,000-1,000 club member since Jim McDaniels in 1971, men's basketball's Justin Johnson broke the football program's six-year stranglehold on the male athlete of the year award as he took home the award for Mr. Hilltopper. In a tight race with championship winners and record breakers up and down the ballot sheet, volleyball's Jessica Lucas helped the volleyball program repeat as Ms. Hilltopper.
A complete list of the winners is below:
- Male Community Outreach Award – Julien Lewis, Football
- Female Community Outreach Award – Sydney Engle, Volleyball
- Team Community Outreach Award - Football
- Male Rookie of the Year—Taveion Hollingsworth, Men's Basketball
- Female Rookie of the Year – Raneem Elgedawy, Women's Basketball
- Men's Scholar Team of the Year – Men's Golf
- Women's Scholar Team of the Year – Women's Tennis
- (tie) Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Ben Morrison, Baseball
- (tie) Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Nicholas Coffey, Football
- Female Scholar Athlete of the Year- Sarah Gorham, Soccer
- Best Male Record-Breaking Performance – Taveion Hollingsworth, Men's Basketball
- Best Female Record-Breaking Performance – Volleyball
- Head Coach of the Year – Travis Hudson, Volleyball
- Support Staff of the Year – Duane Hall, Strength & Conditioning
- Administrator of the Year – Lisa Schneider, Senior Woman Administrator
- Best Comeback Award – Track & Field
- Best Upset Award - Men's Basketball
- Mr. Hilltopper Award – Justin Johnson, Men's Basketball
- Ms. Hilltopper Award – Jessica Lucas, Volleyball
- Overall Team Performance – Men's Basketball
