DeKALB, Ill. – The Victors, Northern Illinois University Athletics’ annual celebration of the academic, athletic and community service accomplishments of its student-athletes, will take place Monday, May 2 at the historic Egyptian Theatre in downtown DeKalb, and everyone is invited to participate. Fans can be a part of this unique evening by

1.    Attending the free event beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 2 (RSVP here) and;
2.    By voting for the “Top Play” of the year below

Help NIU honor the student-athletes, coaches and teams of the past year at The 2016 Victors. Admission is free, and RSVPs are requested. Please complete the online registration form by clicking here. The evening begins with a social hour with NIU student-athletes, coaches and athletics staff entering via the “red carpet” and gathering prior to the show.  Mingle with your favorite Huskie student-athletes before entering the theatre for the program, which gets underway at 7 p.m.

Andy Garcia, a member of the Huskies’ radio broadcast team, will serve as emcee for this year’s Victors. In addition to the awards presentations, which are based on the 2015 spring, 2015 fall and 2015-16 winter sports seasons, video highlights will include the premiere of the 2015-16 Huskie All-Sports Video.

More than 20 different awards will be handed out by student-athlete presenters, with nominations made by athletics staff, coaches and student-athletes. See the complete list of awards and nominees below. To cap off the evening, the 2016 Victors Cup will be presented to the male and female teams who demonstrated excellence in athletics, academics, community service and personal development.

Five plays have been nominated for the Play of the Year in 2016. The plays are:

•    Women’s Basketball: Cassidy Glenn’s game-winning buzzer-beating basket versus Buffalo;
•    Men’s Golf: Jordan Wetsch’s hole-in-one at the 2015 MAC Championships
•    Wrestling: Shawn Scott’s late comeback to beat the No. 9 wrestler in the nation to advance at NCAAs
•    Men’s Soccer: Taylor Cole’s game-winning goal in overtime to defeat Marquette
•    Football: Kenny Golladay’s one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone versus Toledo




Online voting for the Play of the Year ends at midnight on April 30th.

Community Service Team (Male)
•    Baseball
•    Men’s Basketball
•    Wrestling

Community Service Team (Female)
•    Women’s Basketball
•    Women’s Golf
•    Softball

Community Service Champion
•    Kali Kossakowski (Softball)
•    Aubrie Purtell (Gymnastics)
•    Logan Tillmon (Track)

Newcomer of the Year (Male)
•    Austin Eicher (Wrestling)
•    Kenny Golladay (Football)
•    Kevin Rodriguez (Men’s Soccer)
•    Max Scharping (Football)
•    Marshawn Wilson (Basketball)

Newcomer of the Year (Female)
•    Keegan Hayes (Softball)
•    Kelsey Hildreth (Track-Outdoor)
•    Taylor Sarver (Soccer)
•    Meg Wolowicz (Volleyball)

Play of the Year
•    WBB – Game winning shot by Cassidy Glenn vs. Buffalo
•    MGolf – Jordan Wetsch hole in one at MAC Championships
•    FB – Kenny Golladay TD catch at Toledo
•    WR – Shawn Scott “walk off” move at NCAAs vs. No. 9 wrestler
•    MSOC – Taylor Cole OT winner at Marquette

Huskie Comeback
•    Joel Bouagnon (Football)
•    Tommy Hook (Baseball)
•    Delaney Loprieno (Women’s Soccer)
•    Brandon Mallder (Baseball)
•    Katherine Prentice (Gymnastics)

Team of the Year (Male)
•    Men’s Basketball
•    Football
•    Men’s Tennis

Team of the Year (Female)
•    Softball
•    Track & Field
•    Volleyball

Athlete of the Year (Male)
•    Fred Cadieux (Men’s Tennis)
•    Shawun Lurry (Football)
•    Marin Maric (Basketball)
•    Luke Read (Men’s Soccer)
•    Shawn Scott (Wrestling)

Athlete of the Year (Female)
•    Alexis “Pookie” Gonzalez (Volleyball)
•    Kayti Grable (Softball)
•    A’Iesha Irvin-Muhammad (Track-Outdoor)
•    Ally Lehman (Women’s Basketball)
•    Nelle Youel (Women’s Tennis)

Coach of the Year (Men’s Team)
•    Rod Carey (Football)
•    Patrick Fisher (Men’s Tennis)
•    Ryan Ludwig (Wrestling)
•    Mark Montgomery (Men’s Basketball)

Coach of the Year (Women’s Team)
•    Ray Gooden (Volleyball)
•    Sam Morreale (Gymnastics)
•    Christina Sutcliffe (Softball)
•    Connie Teaberry (Track & Field)

Unsung Hero
•    Lauren Africano (Gymnastics)
•    Chuks Iroegbu (Men’s Basketball)
•    Taylor Krage (Volleyball)
•    Ally Lehman (Women’s Basketball)
•    Quinton Rosser (Wrestling)

Mr. Victor E. Huskie
•    Richard Hall (Men’s Soccer)
•    Carlos Manzanas (Men’s Tennis)
•    Shawn Scott (Wrestling)
•    Brian Sisler (Baseball)

Ms. Victor E. Huskie
•    Connie Ellett (Women’s Golf)
•    Kelsey Hildreth (Track & Field/Cross Country)
•    Alexis “Pookie” Gonzalez (Volleyball)
•    Ally Lehman (Women’s Basketball)
•    Emily Naegele (Softball)

-- NIU --