9th Annual CUSPY Winners

Over 300 student-athletes, coaches, staff and C-Club members attended the year-end banquet at the Coors Events Center, organized by CU's Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) to honor athletic accomplishments for the 2008-09 athletic year.

The Male Athlete of the Year Award was shared, presented to golfers Derek Tolan and Patrick Grady. The selection committee couldn't split the pair, as they were almost equal on all accomplishments and are separated at this point by just three strokes after 37 rounds (or 666 holes) of golf. Tolan leads the team in stroke average at 71.89, with Grady right behind at 71.97; CU has had just one occasion in its history where a player finished with a sub-72 stroke average for a single season, much less two trying to do it in one year. Both have two wins and five top five finishes; Grady has the edge in top 10 finishes (8 to 6), and both have 10 top 20 finishes out of 12 total tournaments. Grady has 17 subpar and two even par rounds, with Tolan at 14 and seven, respectively. Tolan is ranked as the nation's No. 23 player, with Grady ranked No. 26.

Other finalists included Cory Higgins (basketball) and Vegard Kjoelhamar (skiing).

Record breaker Jenny Barringer earned the Female Athlete of the Year Award honor, the only unanimous winner (8-0) among the six major performance awards. She was the NCAA Indoor 3,000-meter champion, lapping all but one runner in the entire field in capturing the title in a record time of 8:42.03, the fifth fastest time in the world this spring. She ran the fastest indoor mile time in the world (4:25.91) to win her first Big 12 indoor title in the event, one of three NCAA/CU indoor records she set during the winter season; the other came in the 5,000-meter run (15:01.70). She has continued her dominance in the outdoor season, shattering the school mark in the 1,500 and second fastest clocking ever at CU in the 800, though the quickest in 29 years. She's been named the Big 12 Athlete of the Week on three occasions.

The two other finalists were Maria Grevsgaard (skiing) and Nikki Marshall (soccer).

Tolan also was the recipient of the Male Career Athletic Achievement Award. Including this week's Big 12 Championships, he ranks third in the most rounds played (148) at Colorado, and is 13th in career stroke average (74.24). He is tied for second in both the most top 10 finishes (18) and top 20 efforts (26) in school history. He has had 89.6 percent of his career rounds count toward team scoring (129 of 144; does not include the 2008 NCAA Finals when he played solo), a figure which ranks fifth in school history. He beat 53-to-1 odds to advance to the '08 NCAA's, as only the top two of the 106 players not on teams qualifying were invited to keep playing. Nominated for the prestigious David Toms Award, which is presented to the senior golfer who overcame the most adversity in his collegiate career; Tolan survived a near-fatal car wreck prior to his freshman year, breaking an ankle in the process, and he also lost his first college coach, Mark Simpson, to cancer. The other finalists were Jermyl-Jackson Wilson (basketball) and Patrick Williams (football).

Grevsgaard captured the Female Career Athletic Achievement Award, as the Nordic skier literally blew up the record book during her four years skiing for the Buffs. She won exactly half of her career races ? 24 of 48 ? shattering a 20-year old school record for the most career victories (which had been 13, male or female). She tied the school record for the most podium (top three) finishes with 34, earning first-team All-America honors five times and second-team on three occasions, finishing in the top 10 in all eight NCAA races she skied in. She swept the Nordic titles (classical and freestyle) at the 2008 NCAA Championships, and was a member of CU's 2006 national champion team. The two runner-ups for the honor were Franzi Jendrian (tennis) and Amber Sutherland (volleyball).

The Male Freshman Athlete of the Year Award went to Rodney Stewart, who was on track to set the school's freshman rushing record before he suffered a broken leg from an illegal horse-collar tackle at Texas A & M ended his season early in the ninth game of the year. He still led the team in rushing with 622 yards despite missing the last three-and-a-half games. Those were the fourth most yards by a freshman in CU history, with his top game coming in CU's 17-14 overtime win over No. 21 West Virginia when he ran for 166 yards. He also tied the school record for the most 100-yard games by a freshman with three. Stewart edged out Austin Dufault (basketball) and Reid Pletcher (skiing) for the honor.

Basketball's Alyssa Fressle was honored with the Female Freshman Athlete of the Year Award. She was named to the All-Big 12 Rookie Team and won the league's final rookie of the week honor on March 9. She led all freshmen in the Big 12 in minutes played (30.9), assists (3.4) and steals (1.8), while being third in scoring (7.7 points per game). She was the first freshman to lead CU in assists in 10 seasons. The two other finalists were Michala Jensen (tennis) and Emily Talley (golf).

The selection committee does leave open the possibility that the Athlete-of-the-Year awards could be shared once the spring sport seasons are complete (golf, outdoor track, tennis) in fairness to those sports that still have important portions of their seasons ahead of them.

SAAC members selected several award winners, including assistant trainer Christy Kozeliski being recognized as their choice for staff member of the year. Kozeliski is the trainer for CU's cross country and track teams and thus coordinates the medical needs of well over 100 student-athletes. On the nominating form, Christy had the following submitted on her behalf: "She has an outstanding commitment to the team and is constantly available for student-athletes no matter what their needs. She is never too busy to give you her sound advice, or to make sure that an injury is being properly treated and is literally on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week, constantly portraying an encouraging attitude."

The Student Athlete Support Award was given to the Facilities & Grounds for the group's year-round efforts in maintaining all of CU's home facilities, including Folsom Field, the Coors Events Center, Prentup Field, Potts Field, the football practice fields and the bubble. They also cited the department's, "Countless hours of work with the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the AVP Volleyball tour, and the installation of the new Folsom field turf over the last year that helped make CU a success."

The prestigious Buffalo Award of Distinction, given to a senior male and female student-athlete for outstanding contributions to his or her team, their peers and the athletic department overall, was presented to Jendrian and Maurice Cantrell (football). The pair was recognized for their work with SAAC as well as countless hours working with several community relations programs, including Buffalo Hugs, Read With The Buffs, Holiday Angel Tree and the Special Olympics.

The SAAC Distinguished Service Award, presented to senior members who contributed significantly to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, was given to 13 seniors: Cantrell, Grady, Jendrian, Ryan Campbell, Dyamond Seay, Troi Smith and Kevin Waldron (track & field), Tom Gempel (golf), Nikki Keller and Kirstin Radlinski (soccer), and Karl Nygren, Lisa Perricone and Megan Wilder (skiing).

The Athlete's Choice Award, for the student who demonstrated outstanding spirit, enthusiasm and leadership while overcoming adversity, was awarded to Whitney Houston (women's basketball).

The Speed, Strength & Conditioning Awards for the "lifters of the year" for the Olympic sports were presented to Parker Fales (men's track & field) and Kelly Menachof (women's soccer).

Originally created in 2001, the annual event is one of the most popular among the athletes, as they have tailored the function to be the final social gathering solely amongst themselves for the last time before finals and summer vacation, if not for a longer period of time for those graduating. It is believed to be one of the only events in the country almost entirely organized by the student-athletes, and certainly was among, if not, the first.

CU's SAAC would like to recognize and sincerely thank the food and beverage sponsors for the 9th Annual CUSPY's; all items were donated:

CU Conference Services

Chipotle

Dreyer's

Hapa Sushi

Inko's

K-M Concessions

Noodles & Co.

Old Chicago

Pasta Jay's

Pepsi

White Wave Foods