Big South Announces Athletes of the Year
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Liberty sophomore distance runner Sam Chelanga (Nairobi, Kenya) and Lady Flames’ senior basketball player Megan Frazee (Xenia, Ohio) have been voted the Big South Conference Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year for the 2008-09 season by the League’s Athletics Directors, Senior Woman Administrators and Sports Information Directors, it was announced today by the Conference office.
Chelanga earned 85 points and nine first-place votes in receiving the Howard Bagwell Male Student-Athlete of the Year award and marking the fourth consecutive year that Liberty had the Conference’s top male athlete. Chelanga finished ahead of Flames’ football All-American Rashad Jennings, who tallied 73 points and seven first-place votes. Radford tennis standout Martin Sayer was third in the voting with 52 points and two first-place votes, followed by Highlanders’ basketball All-American Artsiom Parakhouski (49 points, two first-place votes). Coastal Carolina sophomore baseball pitcher Cody Wheeler received 43 points and one first-place vote to round out the top five male vote-getters.
Frazee is just the second individual to win the Female Student-Athlete of the Year award in consecutive years, joining Liberty’s Katie Feenstra, who won in 2004 and 2005. Frazee also joins Feenstra and Coastal Carolina’s Amber Campbell (2001, 2003) as multiple honorees. She received 123 points and 20 first-place votes, finishing ahead of Winthrop softball star Lisa Kingsmore for the second-straight year. Kingsmore was second with 94 points and five first-place votes. Liberty volleyball All-American Kallie Corbin was third with 36 points, while Liberty track & field athlete Marie Williams was fourth with 27 points. Coastal Carolina sprinter Ikeiylah Brown finished fifth in the voting with 26 points and received one first-place vote.
In his first season at Liberty, Chelanga earned a trio of All-America honors as a sophomore to bring his career total to five. He finished as the national runner-up at the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championship and also finished second in the 5K final at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship. Chelanga capped his season with a third-place finish in the 10K race at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship. During the 2008-09 campaign, Chelanga set the all-time NCAA 10K record on April 24 in Berkeley, Calif., with a time of 27:28.48. He also clocked the second-fastest indoor 5K in NCAA history (13:19.79) on Feb. 13 in Fayetteville, Ark. Those were two of his four Liberty and Big South records on the year. Chelanga also set school and Big South standards in the 8K (22:51.3) and 10K (29:08.0) distances in cross country. In 18 individual cross country and track races this past year, Chelanga only lost to two collegiate runners (Oregon’s Galen Rupp and Arkansas’ Shawn Forrest). Chelanga was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Southeast Region Men’s Athlete of the Year for both cross country and outdoor track & field. He also was voted the Big South Men’s Track & Field Athlete of the Year and was the Conference’s Cross Country Runner of the Year. Chelanga captured individual Big South titles in cross country, the indoor mile and the outdoor 1,500 and 5K. His 5K clocking of 14:01.89 set a Big South Championship meet record as well. The IC4A outdoor 5K champion this year, Chelanga was a seven-time Big South Track & Field Athlete of the Week honoree and a four-time ECAC Division I Track Athlete of the Week.
For the second consecutive year, Frazee was voted both the Big South Women’s Basketball Player of the Year and the Tournament MVP. She was a First-Team All-Big South selection for the third-straight year after averaging a career-best and Big South-leading 19.8 points per game, to go along with a League-high 9.9 rebounds. She capped her senior season by being named an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American, and repeated as the Richmond Times-Dispatch State of Virginia Player of the year. She also was the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) Co-State Player of the Year. Frazee was one of just three players in the nation to rank in the Top 25 in both scoring and rebounding, and she scored in double figures in a school-record and nation-leading (at the time the streak was broken) 68 consecutive games. She was voted MVP of the Hokie Hardwood Classic and was named Big South Player of the Week six times in 2008-09. Frazee finished her career among the Big South’s all-time leaders with 1,883 points and 951 rebounds. She is currently playing in the WNBA for the San Antonio Silver Stars after being selected with the No. 14 pick in the 2009 WNBA Draft.
In March 2000, the Big South Conference Executive Committee voted to create an annual Male and Female Student-Athlete of the Year award, and name the male award in honor of Howard Bagwell, one of the founders of the Big South Conference. The annual nominees consist of the Players of the Year from each sport for the regular season most recently completed.
HOWARD BAGWELL MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
2008-09.....Sam Chelanga, Liberty (track & field)
2007-08.....Josh McDougal, Liberty (track & field)
2006-07.....Josh McDougal, Liberty (track & field)
2005-06.....Josh McDougal, Liberty (track & field)
2004-05.....Mike Costanzo, Coastal Carolina (baseball)
2003-04.....Joseph Ngwenya, Coastal Carolina (soccer)
2002-03.....Joseph Ngwenya, Coastal Carolina (soccer)
2001-02.....Justin Owens, Coastal Carolina (baseball)
2000-01.....Jason Colson, Winthrop (baseball)
1999-00.....Keith Butler, Liberty (baseball)
FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
2008-09.....Megan Frazee, Liberty (basketball)
2007-08.....Megan Frazee, Liberty (basketball)
2006-07.....Aruka Felgueroso, Coastal Carolina (golf)
2005-06.....Tiffany Evans, Radford (track & field)
2004-05.....Katie Feenstra, Liberty (basketball)
2003-04.....Katie Feenstra, Liberty (basketball)
2002-03.....Amber Campbell, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
2001-02.....Heather Sagan, Liberty (track & field)
2000-01.....Amber Campbell, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
1999-00.....Anthonia Akpama, Liberty (volleyball)