NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University athletics handed out its annual awards on Monday night in a virtual Golden Monarch Award Event due to the Coronavirus. The awards and highlight videos were displayed and announced on Instagram.
"First, I would like to congratulate all of our student-athletes and coaches for another exceptional year academically and athletically. Our Monarchs are a resilient group and we certainly proved that by how well we handled the abrupt and disappointing conclusion to our athletic season in March," Director of Athletics Dr. Wood Selig said. "The recognition and awards distributed during our virtual GMA Awards banquet serve as a fitting season ending recognition for our numerous student-athletes who were selected for these various honors. I would like to thank our Student Athlete Advisory Committee leadership of President Mufu Taiwo, Vice President Amanda Caruso, Mary Katherine Maloney and Holly Hutchinson for their roles in organizing this virtual year end student athlete awards banquet. Congratulations to all of our award recipients for their many contributions and successes on behalf of ODU."
Holly Hutchinson (Women's Tennis) and Larry Early (Wrestling) were named the female and male Athletes of the Year, while Glory Johnson (Women's Lacrosse) and Mufu Taiwo (Football) were named the third annual First Lady Kate Broderick and President John R. Broderick Award winners.
Also handed out on Monday night was the Championship Effort Award, given to Loren Brill (Men's Basketball) and Mary Katherine Maloney (Women's Lacrosse), the Newcomer of the Year was awarded to Kaleb Ford-Dement (Football) and Ece Turkoglu (Women's Soccer).
The Broderick award is named in honor of ODU President, John R. Broderick. Broderick is the eighth president of Old Dominion, who has been at the university 27 years, and has been in his current role since 2008. He has served on several NCAA committees and chaired the C-USA board for two years and is a longtime supporter of student-athletes.
A team captain, Johnson led ODU with 32 goals and 43 points in nine games due to the shortened season. She finished the season in the top-10 in the country in goals (tied for sixth) and points (tied for 10th).
Taiwo played in 11 games this year for the football Monarchs, starting three games on the defensive line. He is the ODU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) President.
Hutchinson knocked off the No. 2 player in the country, Cameron Morra of North Carolina, to highlight the spring season. She finished with a singles record of 12-7, including four wins over ranked players. She was selected to compete in the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. for singles, as well as doubles, and also received an at-large bid to the Oracle ITA National Fall Singles Championships.
Early was named an NWCA honorable mention All-American, as he qualified for his third-straight NCAA Tournament by placing third at the MAC Championships at 157 pounds. At the MAC Championships, he earned three wins over ranked wrestlers. He was seeded No. 15 at the NCAA Tournament. He went 21-6 on the year and had eight wins over ranked opponents. He was named first-team All-VaSID at 157 pounds.
"And thank you to all of our senior student-athletes who concluded their careers at ODU. We wish each of them success in their future endeavors and hope they will return often to campus. To those who will return next season, we wish each of them a safe and healthy summer and we can't wait to welcome them back to campus and the start of a new year," Selig said.
ODU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION'S MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS
2019-20 Team MVP's
Men's Soccer – Deniz Dogan
Women's Soccer – Talia Tapper
Field Hockey – Rebecca Birch/Erin Huffman
Football – Tony Barnett
Wrestling – Larry Early
Men's Basketball – Malik Curry
Women's Basketball – Taylor Edwards
Men's Golf - Gustav Fransson
Women's Golf - Jana Melichova
Men's Swimming – Filip Svedberg
Women's Swimming – Jacklyn VandePoel
Baseball – Kyle Battle
Lacrosse – Mary Katherine Maloney
Coed Sailing – Dreugh Phillips
Women's Sailing – Bridget Groble
Men's Tennis – Francois Musitelli
Women's Tennis - Yulia Starodubtseva
Rowing – No MVP
JACK WILKINS/JAMES HOWARD SCHOLAR AWARD
Female: Kerri Caruso – Women's Lacrosse
Male: Aaron Carver – Men's Basketball
ODU ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
Female: Holly Hutchinson – Women's Tennis
Male: Larry Early - Wrestling
CHAMPIONSHIP EFFORT (great teammate, character, representative of ODU)
Female: Mary Katherine Maloney – Women's Lacrosse
Male: Loren Brill – Men's Basketball
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Female: Ece Turkoglu – Women's Soccer
Male: Kaleb Ford-Dement - Football
JOHN R. BRODERICK AWARD
Female: Glory Johnson – Women's Lacrosse
Male: Mufu Taiwo - Football
OUTSTANDING STAFF MEMBER
Eileen Graham – Assistant to the Athletic Director
ODU Announces End of the Year Awards for 2019-20
