Lincoln — The University of Nebraska Athletics Department honored some of its best and brightest student-athletes with a special red carpet recognition event at the Lied Center for Performing Arts Sunday evening.
The event included the naming of 2015-16 Student-Athlete-of-the-Year Awards and other annual team and individual accomplishments, as Husker Athletics highlighted stellar performances in competition, the classroom and the community.
Seniors Shavon Shields and Mattie Fowler captured two of Nebraska’s most coveted awards as the Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year to cap the 26th annual event.
Shields is a four-year starter for Head Coach Tim Miles’ basketball program and becomes the first Husker basketball player to win this prestigious honor. Shields, a forward from Olathe, Kan., earned second-team All-Big Ten honors in 2016, marking the second time in his career he has earned All-Big Ten honors. A three-year captain, Shields finished his career on the top-10 list in six school categories. In the classroom, he is a two-time first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American, becoming the only player in program history to earn that distinction. He is the only men’s basketball student-athlete in Division I to be a first-team selection in both 2015 and 2016. A three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, Shields was also one of five Division I players named to the 2016 Allstate NABC Good Works Team for his community outreach. Shields will graduate next month with a degree in biological sciences.
Fowler is a four-year starter in the infield for Head Coach Rhonda Revelle’s softball program. The Tucson, Ariz., native has been instrumental in the Huskers’ three straight postseason appearances, including a WCWS berth in 2013. Fowler is in her fourth season as captain for the program, as she was forced to redshirt after a knee injury in 2014. She is the only four-year captain in the program’s 41-year history. This year, she has set a career high in RBIs and is closing in on personal bests in hits and home runs. Off the field, she has been president of NU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (2014-15), is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and a three-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. Fowler was also one of four Heart & Soul Award winners in 2016, recognizing her outstanding effort in NU’s Life Skills program. Fowler graduated with a degree in finance in May of 2015 and is currently pursuing her MBA. She becomes just the second Husker softball player to win the award since it began in 1991 and the first since Jenny Smith in 1998.
Shields and Fowler will be Nebraska’s Big Ten Medal of Honor recipients in 2016. The conference’s most exclusive award was the first of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence. The Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student from the graduating class of each university who had “attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work.” Big Ten schools currently feature more than 9,500 students competing in intercollegiate athletics, but only 28 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis. In more than 100 years of the Big Ten Medal of Honor, almost 1,400 students have earned this distinction.
Kadie Rolfzen, who led the Nebraska volleyball team to the 2015 NCAA title, captured the Best Female Athlete Award. A three-time All-American, Rolfzen topped the Huskers with 3.30 kills per set and added 2.82 digs per set, as NU finished with a 32-4 record and the program’s fourth national title. This past season, the junior outside hitter from Papillion, Neb., was named a first-team AVCA All-American and earned a spot on the NCAA Championship All-Tournament team and was the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Lexington Regional.
Wrestling standout TJ Dudley claimed Nebraska’s Best Male Athlete Award. A two-time All-American, Dudley earned runner-up honors at 184 pounds at the 2016 NCAA Championships in New York City, leading the Huskers to their best NCAA Championship finish since 2009. A three-time NCAA qualifier, Dudley finished with a 24-7 record in 2015-16, including 12 wins over ranked opponents. The Irmo, S.C., native became the 23rd Husker to reach the NCAA finals and the first since two-time Olympian Jordan Burroughs in 2011. Dudley also earned runner-up honors at the 2016 Big Ten Championships.
Two new awards were added to the program this year, highlighting the top newcomers in Husker Athletics. Two standout performers shared the award on the women’s side, as Mikaela Foecke (Volleyball) and Jessica Shepard (Basketball) were lauded for their efforts this past season.
Foecke a right-side hitter who averaged 3.09 kills and 3.60 points per set, was selected the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Championships. For her efforts, she was an AVCA Honorable-Mention All-American and finalist for the Sullivan Award, which honors America’s top amateur athlete. Shepard, a post player who averaged 18.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, was a first-team All-Big Ten performer and Big Ten Freshman of the Year after garnering 10 freshman-of-the-week awards during the season. On the men’s side, Andrew White III was honored, as the Husker basketball performer garnered All-Big Ten honors by averaging 16.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
A total of eight student-athletes received the Outstanding Scholars Award, which is presented to student-athletes in their final season of eligibility who carry a 3.90 or better GPA. On the men’s side, the honorees include a pair of track and field standouts in Levi Gipson and Cody Rush, men’s gymnasts Ryan Irick and Ethan Lottman and football player Lane Hovey. On the women’s side, the Outstanding Scholars Award went to Melanie Blum (Women’s Track and Field), Michaela Cunningham (Swimming and Diving) and Katie Kraeutner (Soccer).
Both of the Herman Team Grade-Point Average award winners were repeat honorees. Coach Pablo Morales’ Nebraska women’s swimming and diving team captured the Herman Team Grade-Point Average award for the second-straight year with a combined GPA of 3.581 for 2015.Coach Kerry McDermott’s Husker tennis team claimed the award on the men’s side with a 3.418 GPA in 2015, marking the seventh time that the men’s tennis program has earned the award under McDermott.
Longtime football athletic trainer George “Sully” Sullivan was presented with the Dick Herman Lifetime Achievement Award. Sullivan served Husker Athletics for more than four decades, including as Nebraska’s Head Athletic Trainer from 1977 to 1995. For his excellence in athletic medicine, the athletic medicine facility in the Osborne Complex was named the “George Sullivan Training Room” in 2008, the same year the Touchdown Club fully endowed a scholarship in his honor.
It is fitting that Sullivan receive the honor named after Dick Herman, who passed away last year. Herman was a generous contributor across many levels of Nebraska Athletics, especially to the Academic support facilities and recognition events such as a Night at the Lied.
Coach Darin Erstad’s baseball team and Coach John Cook’s volleyball team captured the prestigious Life Skills Awards of Excellence, for their exceptional commitment to NU’s award-winning Life Skills program. The Life Skills program also named four winners across all sports of its most prestigious individual award – the Heart & Soul Award. The Heart & Soul winners were Mattie Fowler (Softball), Levi Gipson (Track and Field), Ethan Lottman (Gymnastics) and Nathan Wong (Golf).
In addition to the team awards and the Heart & Soul awards, Life Skills presented 35 of Nebraska’s top all-around student-athletes across all sports with Nebraska Student-Athlete Hero Leadership awards. Life Skills also honored the members of the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team, as a total of 347 student-athletes were recognized, as Husker student-athletes volunteered to impact more than 25,000 people throughout the state of Nebraska in 2015-16.
Overall, a total of 297 Huskers earned academic medallions at the banquet. Gold medallions (61) were presented to those for highest academic honors (3.75-4.0 grade-point average). Silver medallions (84) were awarded to those for high honors (3.5-3.749 GPA), while bronze medallions (152) were presented to student-athletes with honors (3.0-3.499 GPA).
2016 University Nebraska Athletic/Academic/Life Skills Awards
Male Student-Athlete of the Year & Big Ten Medal of Honor: Shavon Shields (Basketball)
Female Student-Athlete of the Year & Big Ten Medal of Honor: Mattie Fowler (Softball)
Best Male Athlete: TJ Dudley (Wrestling)
Best Female Athlete: Kadie Rolfzen (Volleyball)
Male Newcomer of the Year: Andrew White III (Basketball)
Female Newcomer of the Year (co): Mikaela Foecke (Volleyball) and Jessica Shepard (Basketball)
Dick Herman Lifetime Achievement Award: George Sullivan
Outstanding Scholar Awards (8): Melanie Blum (Track and Field); Michaela Cunningham (Swimming and Diving); Levi Gipson (Track and Field); Lane Hovey (Football); Ryan Irick (Men’s Gymnastics); Katie Kraeutner (Soccer); Ethan Lottman (Men’s Gymnastics) and Cody Rush (Track and Field)
Heart & Soul Awards (4): Mattie Fowler (Softball); Levi Gipson (Track and Field); Ethan Lottman (Gymnastics); Nathan Wong (Golf)
Men’s Herman Team GPA Award: Tennis (3.418 GPA)
Women’s Herman Team GPA Award: Swimming & Diving (3.581 GPA)
Men’s Life Skills Award of Excellence: Baseball
Women’s Life Skills Award of Excellence: Volleyball
Nebraska Student-Athlete Hero Leadership Awards (35): Connor Adamsick, Men’s Gymnastics; Freedom Akinmoladun, Football; Oladapo Akinmoladun, Men’s Track and Field; Alicia Armstrong, Softball; Josh Banderas, Football; Hollie Blanske, Women’s Gymnastics; Melanie Blum, Women’s Track and Field; Brody Cleveland, Football; Melanie Crawford, Bowling; Kristen Dowell, Women’s Track and Field; Caroline Flynn, Soccer; Sam Foltz, Football; Mary Hanna, Women’s Tennis; Lindsay Helferich, Swimming and Diving; Collin Jensen, Wrestling; Bo Kitrell, Football; Marissa Major, Rifle; Jake McSteen, Baseball; Jaylyn Odermann, Soccer; Erin Oeltjen, Swimming and Diving; Madelyn Osmundson, Women’s Track and Field; Alli Peterson, Soccer; Austin Post, Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field; Sam Shaw, Men’s Track and Field; Bonnie Smith, Women’s Cross Country; Joel Sneed, Men’s Golf; Cassidy Stelzmiller, Women’s Golf; Jamie Sutcliffe, Football; Tori Sutter, Women’s Track and Field; Sydney Townsend, Volleyball; Krista Van Wie, Swimming and Diving; Andrew White III, Men’s Basketball; Austin Wilson, Wrestling; Emily Wood, Women’s Basketball; Ford Zitsch, Men’s Tennis