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 Kevin Martin (left) and Laura Tieszen (right) stand with WCU athletics director Jeff Compher to receive the 2004 Male and Female Athletes of the Year awards. |
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April 26, 2004
April 26, 2004
Cullowhee, N.C. - The Western Carolina Athletics Department today named its annual Male and Female Athletes and Scholar Athletes of the Year. Laura Tieszen (track and field) has been selected as the Female Athlete of the Year and Kevin Martin (basketball), the Male Athlete of the Year. No strangers to scholastic excellence, Yoneko Allen (basketball) has been named the Female Scholar Athlete of the Year for the third straight year, while Jason Whaley (football) received the honor for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year.
Tieszen, a Rapid City, S.D., native, finished the 2004 indoor track and field season as the Southern Conference champion in the women's pole vault, clearing 12 feet, 11.5 inches - an NCAA provisional qualifying mark - to earn All-SoCon honors. She previously set the same mark at the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame on Feb. 7, earning her SoCon Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week honors. Tieszen additionally won the event at the Niswonger Invitational during the indoor season and broke the WCU women's pentathlon record with a score of 2,889 at the Clemson Heptathlon and Pentathlon meet. So far this outdoor season, she set an NCAA Regional qualifying mark of 12 feet, 9.5 inches at the Yellow Jacket Invitational. The junior has claimed the pole vault title at the UNC Charlotte Invitational and at Davidson's Irwin Belk Invitational. Also at the recent Davidson meet, Tieszen threw a personal best outdoor distance of 121 feet, 4 inches in the javelin.
Martin, a Zanesville, Ohio native, was named to the coaches All-SoCon team this March, making him just the second Catamount to earn the honor three times. The junior led the SoCon and ranked either first or second in the nation all season in scoring, finishing second with a 24.9 average. Martin was named to both the United States Basketball Writers and National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District teams for the 2003-04 season. He was the only SoCon player to be honored by either organization and was the only non-ACC player to be on either team. Martin has scored 1,838 points through three seasons at Western. His total ranks fourth on the WCU all-time list, while ranking as the Catamounts' leading scorer since the school joined the NCAA Division I ranks during the 1976-77 season.
 Senior Yoneko Allen is a 2004 Academic All-America third team selection and is receiving the WCU Female Scholar Athlete award for the third straight year. |
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Allen, a Gray Court, S.C., native, currently holds a 3.98 GPA as a triple major in Sport Management, Marketing and Business Administration & Law and has been named to the Dean's List the past seven consecutive semesters. Allen was recently named Academic All-America third team after gracing the All-District III team the past three consecutive years. She has twice been an Arthur Ashe, Jr., Scholar Athlete among other academic achievements. The 5-8 guard just recently wrapped up her Catamount career at Western with a trip to the Southern Conference championship game in Charleston, S.C., where she averaged 11.5 points and 2.5 treys per game for the tournament. She has certainly made her mark on WCU women's basketball history as she owns five single-season and career records, including career 3-point field goals made (180) and 3-point field goals attempted (542). The three-year captain also appears on Western's career and single-season lists nine other times.
 Jason Whaley (left) is a 2003 Academic All-America second team selection and is receiving the WCU Male Scholar Athlete of the Year award for the fourth consecutive year. |
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Whaley, a Beulaville, N.C., native, graduated in Dec. with a 3.91 GPA in Computer Information Systems. To mention just a few of is many honors, Whaley was named the 2003 college football National Scholar-Athlete by the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame, first team Academic All-America after earning his third straight first team Academic All-District III honor, first team All-Conference by both the coaches and media a second team All-American in 2003. For the second consecutive year, he was also named to the Division I-AA Athletics Directors Association Academic All-Star team. Whaley started all 12 games in 2003, playing both left and right tackle and left guard. He was named All-SoCon as a tackle this fall.
Individual team MVPs include the following: Kevin Martin (basketball), Jennifer Gardner (women's basketball), Eddie Wells (male cheerleader), Heather Kasey (female cheerleader), Caleb Bailey (men's cross country), Deanna Kulesz (women's cross country), Jason Whaley (football), Tripp Morrow (men's golf), Brandy Andersen (women's golf), Lauren Bramlett (soccer), Kristin Munn and Rocio Perez (tennis), Milton Bolton (men's indoor track), Laura Tieszen (women's indoor track) and Shari Harder (volleyball). The men's and women's outdoor track teams as well as the baseball team will announce their team MVPs once their seasons are complete.
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