Blue Demons Celebrate Most Outstanding Performers

Blue Demons Celebrate Most Outstanding Performers

6/4/2021 11:14:00 AM | CROSS COUNTRY, ATHLETICS, MEN'S BASKETBALL, MEN'S GOLF, MEN'S SOCCER, MEN'S TENNIS, SOFTBALL, TRACK AND FIELD, WOMEN'S BASKETBALL, WOMEN'S SOCCER, WOMEN'S TENNIS, WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Athletics Awards Banquet pays tribute to DePaul's finest student athletes

CHICAGO – Matt Brothers was unabashed in his praise for Captains' Council organizing a highly successful DePaul Athletics Awards Banquet last week.

"The student athletes did a phenomenal job," said Brothers, the BIG EAST Men's Tennis Coach of the Year. "They wrote up the scripts, ran the show and did a wonderful job keeping everything moving along.

"Perry Chong (golf), Bina Saipi (women's soccer) Avarie Evans-Allen (volleyball) and Pantelis Xidias (men's basketball) did a nice job introducing the winners and thanking the athletics department staff for supporting all the student athletes. The video was amazing. I believe they got the event down to a couple of hours. What a really great job.

"Each year, when I think it can't possibly get any better---this year was better than ever."

On Wednesday, a review of the awards banquet led off with a story on DePaul's top academic honors including the Rev. John R. Cortelyou Award, the Jean Nordberg Memorial Award and the Father Edward Riley Award.

Thursday celebrated DePaul's Major Award winners, the Michael Hie Memorial Award winners, the Community Service Awards, the Captains' Council Blue Demon Award and the Office of Student Involvement Excellence in Leadership Award.

The end-of-year recognition concludes Friday with the 2020-21 Most Outstanding Performers and the Sports Performance Awards.

Here is the rundown of DePaul's finest.

Sports Performance Awards
The Sports Performance Award was established by former strength and conditioning coach Tim Lang in 2003. The honor is awarded annually by the Sports Performance staff showcasing the top male and female student-athlete and their commitment to excellence. The female honoree is Bina Saipi from the women's soccer team and the male winner is Boris Spanjaard from the BIG EAST champion men's tennis team.

Most Outstanding Performers
Each team annually salutes its Most Outstanding Performer, and here are the top student athletes from each sport.

Men's Basketball – Javon Freeman-Liberty
Freeman-Liberty was team's leading scorer with 14.4 points per game and was second on the team in rebounds and steals. The hometown standout from high school basketball power Whitney Young scored a season-high 26 points at Butler and was a double-digit scorer in nine of his 14 games played last season.

Women's Basketball – Lexi Held and Sonya Morris
Opponents were confronted with a difficult dilemma when encountering this dynamic pair of juniors. Focusing on containing one All-BIG EAST First Team guard would invariably lead to the other All-BIG First Team selection taking you down. It was the ultimate pick-your-poison scenario. The duo combined to average 36 points a game and was often the difference between winning and losing. Held was No. 5 in the nation in steals while Morris was 11th in the country in free throw percentage. Held is the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year, a CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team honoree and was named to the prestigious Citizen Naismith Trophy Watch List. Morris was singled out as one of the nation's top-10 shooting guards as a finalist for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award. Both were among 10 players nationwide selected to the Athletic Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) Scholar-Athlete Team.

Men's Cross Country – Charlie McIntyre
McIntyre led the Blue Demons with a third-place finish at the Eastern Illinois Open on Feb. 20 and finished 59th at the BIG EAST Championships on March 5.

Women's Cross Country – Olivia Borowiak
Borowiak turned in a strong cross-country campaign this spring that saw her win the Eastern Illinois Spring Open and finish in the top-15 at the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships.
In outdoor track and field, Borowiak logged a time of 16:53.09 to win the 5000m run at the Gibson Invitational on April 16. She broke Gloria Kuiken's school record in the outdoor 5000m run that had stood since 1987.

Men's Soccer – Jake Fuderer
Fuderer was named to the 2021 All-BIG EAST Third Team by opposing coaches and led the Blue Demons with four goals this spring. The talented junior scored a pair in the season opener against Northern Illinois and also scored on a free kick to get the Blue Demons going against Creighton. Fuderer matched his goal output from 2019 and now has eight career goals.

Women's Soccer – Morgan Turner
Turner was a 2021 All-BIG EAST Second Team selection in voting by opposing coaches and led the Blue Demons with three goals this spring including the game-winner to beat Creighton on March 14. The game-winning strike in overtime earned Turner BIG EAST Honor Roll recognition. Turner was named to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team in 2017 and All-BIG EAST First-Team in 2019. She has now scored 22 goals during her career at DePaul which is sixth all-time.

Men's Outdoor Track and Field – Ashton Colaire
Colaire helped the Blue Demons to an appearance at the NCAA Preliminaries in the 4x100m relay that set the school record which had stood since 1995. He finished second in the 110m hurdles and the 4x100m relay at the BIG EAST Championships and was a key component of the winning 4x400m relay team at the BIG EAST Championships. Colaire set the school record in the 110m hurdles (14.25).

Women's Outdoor Track and Field – Tori Carroll
Carroll is the reigning BIG EAST champion in the 100m dash and an integral part of DePaul's second-place 4x100m relay at the outdoor conference championships. She was an NCAA preliminary qualifier in the long jump and 100m dash and set a new school record in the 100m dash.

Volleyball – Avarie Evans-Allen
Evans-Allen led the team in hitting percentage at a .261 clip while finishing third on the team in blocks with 22 including a team-high four solo. Evans-Allen, a vocal leader on the squad, was selected to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll in February.

Softball – Jess Cothern
Cothern was a unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team selection and was also named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team. The senior catcher led the team in batting average, slugging, on-base percentage, hits and total bases. Cothern was an NFCA All-Great Lakes Third Team honoree.

Golf – Conor Glennon
This talented sophomore from Ireland is coming into his own as a fast-rising player in the BIG EAST Conference after a 10th-place finish in the BIG EAST Championship and a runner-up finish at the Alabama A&M Golf Classic. He led the Blue Demons at the conference tournament with a three-day total of 219 (+3) and carded a season-best 70 in the second round at Bowling Green, Fla.

Men's Tennis – Boris Spanjaard
The All-BIG EAST First Team selection was a motivating force and a team leader for the "Band of Brothers" that won its first BIG EAST title and secured its first bid to the NCAA Championship. Spanjaard went 12-7 in singles and closed out a stellar collegiate career winning his final six matches while also going 13-4 in doubles with classmate and good friend Chris Casati. Saving his best for last, Spanjaard was 5-0 at the BIG EAST Championship winning three singles matches and a pair of doubles matches.

But even more than that, the graduate student from the Netherlands brought an undeniable toughness to the team as he led the Blue Demons into battle, overcoming adversity to inspire his teammates.

Women's Tennis – Aspasia Avgeri
The graduate student from Athens, Greece finished off her college career with a loud flourish being voted the BIG EAST Player of the Year by opposing coaches. Avgeri was a unanimous pick by conference coaches for All-BIG EAST First Team after going 11-3 at No. 1 singles and racking up 10 wins in a row while going undefeated for 11 weeks.

Her most notable singles win for the DePaul Female Athlete of the Year came on April 9 in Cincinnati with a 6-4, 7-6(7-5) triumph over Xavier's nationally ranked Ahmeir Kyle at No. 1. Overall, Avgeri finished with a 5-1 record against BIG EAST opponents including the postseason in leading DePaul to a runner-up finish at the BIG EAST Championship.