Big South Announces 2009-10 Student-Athletes of the Year
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) - Liberty junior distance runner Sam Chelanga (Nairobi, Kenya) and Radford junior softball player Kristen Shifflett (Charlottesville, Va.) have been voted the Big South Conference Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year for the 2009-10 season by the League's Athletics Directors, Senior Woman Administrators and Sports Information Directors, it was announced today by the Conference office.
Chelanga earned 121 points and 22 first-place votes in repeating as the Howard Bagwell Male Student-Athlete of the Year award winner and marking the fifth consecutive year that Liberty had the Conference's top male athlete. Chelanga finished ahead of Coastal Carolina baseball All-American Anthony Meo, who tallied 73 points. Radford men's basketball All-American Art Parakhouski was third in the voting with 61 points and one first-place vote, followed by High Point baseball All-American Nate Roberts (35 points, one first-place vote). Liberty football All-American Mike Brown received 29 points to round out the top five male vote-getters.
Shifflett is the first softball player to win the Conference's Female Student-Athlete of the Year award. The former walk-on received 88 points and 10 first-place votes to become just the second individual from Radford University to be honored, joining 2005-06 winner Tiffany Evans (track & Field). Shifflett finished ahead of Coastal Carolina golfer Aruka Felgueroso, who was second with 52 points and six first-place votes. Liberty track & field athlete Jaime Watson was third with 44 points and one first-place vote, while Gardner-Webb women's basketball star Margaret Roundtree was fourth with 40 points. Sprinters Ikeiylah Brown (Coastal Carolina) and Natalie Pearson (UNC Asheville) tied for fifth in the voting with 34 points each.
Chelanga was the NCAA Division I National Champion in two sports in 2009-10, winning the cross country title in November and the 10,000-meter run in outdoor track & field in June. He also earned a pair of NCAA National Runner-Up finishes this season in the indoor 5,000-meters and the outdoor 5,000-meters, while increasing his career All-American honors to nine, including seven at Liberty. Both of Chelanga's national titles came in dominating performances. He captured the NCAA cross country championship by 25 seconds and broke the course record by 22 seconds. His NCAA 10K crown came by an 18-second margin over the runner-up. The 2009-10 Big South Conference Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Year, Chelanga was just a combined 1.14 seconds behind the national champion in his two NCAA 5K second-place finishes. In addition, just two different collegiate runners defeated him in a race all year, including cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.
Chelanga's highlights from this past season also include his 27:08.39 clocking in the 10K race at Stanford's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational on May 1, as he broke his own NCAA all-time 10K record by 20 seconds en route to the third-fastest 10K time in the world in 2010. Chelanga was one of 10 male finalists for The Bowerman - college track & field's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, was voted the USTFCCCA Division I Men's National Cross Country Athlete of the Year, and was named the USTFCCCA Division I Southeast Region Men's Athlete of the Year for both cross country and outdoor track. Chelanga's 2009-10 season also included four Big South titles, including the cross country championship and a trio of events (mile, 3K and distance medley relay) at the Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Shifflett, a shortstop, helped guide Radford to a 38-17 overall record, 16-2 Big South mark and the club's second-straight Big South Championship and first-ever NCAA Regional finals appearance in 2010. Along with being named Big South and VaSID State Player of the Year, she garnered NFCA First-Team All-Region accolades. Shifflett batted .615 with a double, two home runs (both vs. No. 24 Florida State), four RBI and a 1.154 slugging percentage in the NCAA Softball Regionals. In the 3-2 Regional win over Florida State, Shifflett hit the game-tying long ball and later scored the game-winning run to lead the Highlanders into the Regional finals - a first for any Radford athletic program. A threat from the leadoff spot, she concluded her season with a nine-game hitting streak and recorded a hit in 42 of her last 48 contests. The two-time Big South Tournament MVP led the Conference in batting (.426), runs (58), runs per game (1.05), hits (78), hits per game (1.42), slugging (.760), on-base percentage (.478), total bases (139) and stolen bases (23). In addition Shifflett ranked in the top five in home runs, doubles and RBI.
Shifflett ranked nationally in runs (13th), batting average (17th), slugging (29th), home runs per game (42nd) and home runs (48th). She posted a Big South-best 26 multi-hit games, along with registering the top fielding percentage among League shortstops. In Conference play this season, Shifflett led the League in hits (26), home runs (7), runs scored (22) and slugging percentage (.898). Shifflett, who has been voted First-Team All-Conference all three years of her career, is Radford's all-time leader in home runs (36) and runs scored (150), and is the first player in school history with 200 career hits prior to her senior year (201).
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
2009-10 -- Sam Chelanga, Liberty (track & field)
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
2009-10 -- Kristen Shifflett, Radford (softball)
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)