University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Sloter, Smith Named Athletes of the Year
4/18/2017 7:25:00 AM | General
Football's Kyle Sloter and Women's Basketball's Savannah Smith were named the male and female athletes of the year at the athletic department's annual Student-Athlete Awards Banquet
GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado Athletics celebrated its 2017 Student-Athlete Awards Banquet on Monday night, honoring not only the athletic accomplishments of all programs over the past year, but also academic
(4/18/2017) 2017 Student Athlete Banquet
The award categories for athletic feats included, Rookie of the Year, Bear Leadership, All-Bear Team and Male and Female Athlete of the Year.
To no one's surprise, women's golfer, Morgan Sahm and men's basketball's Jonah Radebaugh were crowned as the female and male Rookie of the Year.
Radebaugh started all 29 games for UNC and led the team in minutes played and rebounding, averaging 33.8 MPG and 5.5 RPG. Radebaugh was voted Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year by the conference coaches, becoming just the second player in UNC history to earn DPOY since the Bears joined the conference. To top it all off, he did all of this as a redshirt freshman walk-on to the program.
Sahm took over the No. 1 spot on the team in her first season at UNC. She's had three Top 10 finishes throughout the season, including tying for fifth at the ORU/SFA Spring Break Invite, solidifying a run of finishing three consecutive tournaments in the Top 10 of the field. She's also nabbed three Top 20 finishes.
The newcomer has signed off on four rounds of one-over-par and one round of even-par throughout her year and currently averages 75.41 strokes a round. She was named to the All-Big Sky Conference third team for her stellar play.
For the department's Bear Leadership Award, the Student Athletic Advisory Council (SAAC) voted on one male and one female that exhibited leadership, sportsmanship, academic integrity and have gone above their normal duties as a student-athlete through involvement with athletics, campus and community.
Track and field's Jacqueline Palizzi and wrestling's Dylan Gabel were honored as the winners for all their contributions to not only their team, but the department and the community as a whole. This is the second consecutive season Gabel has been named the male Bear Leaderdship award winner.
The All-Bear Team and Male and Female Athlete of the Year were the main event of the evening. The winners must have represented significant achievement in their respective sport during the current year and carried a minimum of a 2.0 GPA.
The women's All-Bear team consisted of: Erica Dick (Softball), Ashley Guthrie (Volleyball), Savannah Smith (Women's Basketball) and Moriah Zachary (Track and Field) with Smith being named the Female Athlete of the Year.
The men's team was made up of: Jordan Davis (Men's Basketball), Dylan Gabel (Wrestling), Kyle Newsom (Football), Kyle Sloter (Football) and Coby Welch (Men's Golf) with Sloter being named the Male Athlete of the Year.
Smith finished out her season ranked third in the conference in scoring with 17.3 points per game, which also led UNC.She shot an impressive 36.8 percent from the field, averaging 2.9 threes a game, the second most in the conference.Smith also averaged 3.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 steals. The steals ranked seventh in the conference. Along with earning First Team All-Big Sky honors, Smith started all 30 games for the Bears and paced the team in scoring (15.9 ppg), steals (60) and three-pointers made (80), setting a new single-season program record in three-pointers made.
Sloter came into the 2016 season as a backup, but ended up as the regular season starter in week 2. Sloter passed for a Division I school record, 29 TD's, along with throwing just 10 interceptions. He Finished the year with 2,665 yards passing, becoming the first QB to throw for over 2,000 yards since the 2013 season. An All-Big Sky Honorable Mention and a FCS National Player of the Week in week two of the season. Sloter rushed for 203 yards and picked up three rushing touchdowns. Along with the TDs record, he also set All-time single game touchdown passes record with six, which he did twice.
ACADEMICS
The department handed out the distinguished Dr. George Sage Scholar Athlete Award and the Dr. Mary Behling Scholar Athlete Award during the evening.
Both awards are given to the male and female athlete with the highest grade point average among all graduating student-athletes from all sports.
Men's Basketball's Tyler Loose was honored as the Dr. George Sage award winner, as he too will graduate from Northern Colorado with a 4.0 cumulative GPA.
Track and Field's, Carly Browning was the Dr. Mary Behling award winner, as she will graduate UNC with a 4.0 cumulative GPA.
The top graduating seniors from each sport were recognized throughout the program as well. Each of the individuals distinguished themselves by earning the highest cumulative GPA among all graduating seniors for their teams.
The Honorees:
Dan Reese (Baseball)
Tyler Loose (Men's Basketball)
Katie Longwell (Women's Basketball)
Jamie Falloon (Football)
Andrew Romano (Men's Golf)
Baile Winslow (Women's Golf)
Shanlie Anderson (Women's Soccer)
Adeline Coldiron (Softball)
Tara Olson (Swimming and Diving)
Alex Clerihew (Men's Tennis)
Marissa Baca (Women's Tennis)
Tim Corrie (Men's Track and Field/Cross Country)
Carly Browning (Women's Track and Field/Cross Country)
Makenna Meir (Volleyball)
Timmy Box (Wrestling)
Over 200 student-athletes were also recognized during the awards ceremony for carrying over a 3.2 GPA throughout the school year.
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