Indiana Athletics Celebrates Student-Athletes with Spirit of Indiana Showcase

Indiana University Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass with the Director's Award winners Ciersten Burks and Jordan Hulls at the conclusion of the Spirit of Indiana Showcase.

Indiana Athletics Celebrates Student-Athletes with Spirit of Indiana Showcase

4/22/2013 12:00:00 AM | Student-Athlete Services

April 22, 2013

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics honored its student-athletes at the third annual Spirit of Indiana Showcase on Monday, April 22, at the Indiana University Auditorium.

The Showcase honored student-athletes with year-end awards from 2012 and 2013, while introducing the winners of the 2013 Spirit of Indiana Director's Award, presented by Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass. This award is the most prestigious award presented by the department and is given to two senior student-athletes, which best represent The Spirit of Indiana: 24 Sports, One Team. This year's award was given to senior guard Jordan Hulls (Men's Basketball) and senior defender Ciersten Burks (Women's Soccer).

"Ciersten and Jordan are the embodiment of The Spirit of Indiana: 24 Sports, One Team," said Glass. "They are each outstanding students, athletes, leaders, teammates and citizens. We couldn't be prouder to have these two win our highest honor, the Director's Award."

Burks, a native of Indianapolis, played in 68 games during her four years on the pitch for the Hoosiers, and was in the starting lineup for 47 of those games. She began her career as a forward but switched to a defender for her final two seasons and was a stalwart there. She had two assists as a sophomore, the only two points of her career, but she helped the IU defense pitch eight shutouts over the last two years.

She is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree as well as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. Burks will graduate in May with a B.A. in Biology and minors in Spanish and Chemistry. She will begin Medical School in the fall in Indianapolis.

"These past four years are ones that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world," said Burks. "I want to thank my teammates for all you have done for me and being my best friends on and off the field. I'm just so proud and thankful to be standing up here right now."

Hulls, a native of Bloomington, was the 2013 Senior CLASS Award winner and has been recognized as an Academic All-American, and is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. After completing his bachelor of science in kinesiology in three years, he will complete his athletic administration master's program in August.

A two-time All-Big Ten selection, Hulls ranked second in the conference in 3-point shooting percentage at 45 percent. He helped lead the Hoosiers to back-to-back NCAA Sweet Sixteen's for the first time since 1994 and the program's first outright Big Ten regular season championship since 1993. Indiana finished the 2012-13 regular season ranked fourth in the Associated Press poll and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Hulls has played more games than any other player in Indiana University history, passing the 133-game record held by Randy Wittman and Jeff Newton.

"The first two years were a struggle, but the last two years made it worth fighting for this program," said Hulls. "Thank you to everyone for supporting this program through those tough times. It's been an honor to play for Indiana University and I'll always be a Hoosier at heart."

Monday's Showcase also featured the following awards:

Best Performance: Derek Drouin - winning a bronze medal in the high jump at the 2012 London Olympics

Best Comeback: Men's Soccer coming back from a 1-0 deficit at Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament

Best Upset: Women's Basketball's last second upset of Purdue in Assembly and Zach Mayhew winning the 2012 Big Ten Cross Country title against a tough Wisconsin team

Anita Aldrich Leadership Award (which recognizes a female student-athlete for best exemplifying Anita Aldrich's ideals of leadership, scholastic achievement and athletic ability among all female student-athletes):
Leslie Hureau, Women's Tennis

Jack D. Tichenor Award (which is given to a male and female student-athlete with the highest grade point average across all sports):
Kelsey Brannon, Softball
Dimitrije Tasic, Men's Tennis

Big Ten Medal of Honor:
Luis Soffner, Men's Soccer
Amy Cozad, Women's Diving

CHAMPS Champ Team Award (which is a competition between all Indiana University varsity athletics teams designed to encourage participation in the CHAMPS/Life Skills program, attendance at other teams' events and community service, while award academic success):
Rowing

Aline Robinson Mental Attitude Award (which recognizes female student-athletes for their mental attitude and distinguished performance in athletics and academics on their respective team):
Nicole Bell, Women's Basketball
Molly Winters, Women's Cross Country
Hannah Boyer, Field Hockey
Pamela Burneski, Women's Golf
Lindsey Barber, Rowing
Molly Buynak, Women's Soccer
Shannon Cawley, Softball
Lindsay Vrooman, Women's Swimming
Cassidy Kahn, Women's Diving
Sarah Maxson, Women's Track and Field
Samantha Thrower, Volleyball
Meghan Lappan, Water Polo

IU Sportsmanship Award (which recognizes student-athletes from each sport for demonstrating outstanding sportsmanship in their respective sport throughout the year):
Mike Basil, Baseball
Meaghan Murphy, Softball
Derek Elston, Men's Basketball
Linda Rubene, Women's Basketball
Adam Behnke, Men's Cross Country
Molly Hirt, Women's Cross Country
Nicholas Sliger, Football
Maggie Olson, Field Hockey
Jade Henderson, Volleyball
Brant Peaper, Men's Golf
Elizabeth Tong, Women's Golf
Harrison Petts, Men's Soccer
Lisa Nouanesengsy, Women's Soccer
Ryan Downey, Men's Swimming
Cassidy Kahn, Women's Diving
Chris Essick, Men's Tennis
Katie Klyczek, Women's Tennis
Lance Roller, Men's Track and Field
Derek Messmer, Men's Track and Field
Courtney Woodard, Women's Track and Field
Sydney Clute, Women's Track and Field
Olivia Gugliemotto, Rowing
Amanda Redfern, Water Polo
Ryan LeBlanc, Wrestling

Hoosier Award (which recognizes a student-athlete for bringing honor and distinction to Indiana University in their representative sport during the academic year):
Trace Knoblauch, Baseball
Amanda Wagner, Softball
Christian Watford, Men's Basketball
Sasha Chaplin, Women's Basketball
Robby Nierman, Men's Cross Country
Kelsey Duerksen, Women's Cross Country
Will Matte, Football
Morgan Fleetwood, Field Hockey
Corey Ziedonis, Men's Golf
Elizabeth Tong, Women's Golf
Caleb Konstanski, Men's Soccer
Ciersten Burks, Women's Soccer
Cody Miller, Men's Swimming
Lindsay Vrooman, Women's Swimming
George Andrews, Men's Diving
Kate Hillman, Women's Diving
Alek Davila, Men's Tennis
Leslie Hureau, Women's Tennis
Zach Mayhew, Men's Track and Field
Derek Drouin, Men's Track and Field
Kyla Buckley, Women's Track and Field
Samantha Ginther, Women's Track and Field
Megan Van Pelt, Rowing
Whitney Granado, Volleyball
Shae Fournier, Water Polo
Adam Chalfant, Wrestling

Big Ten Athletes of the Year: Eriq Zavaleta, Player of the Year, Men's Soccer
Lindsay Vrooman, Swimmer of the Year, Women's Swimming
Darian Schmidt, Diver of the Year, Men's Diving
Cody Miller, Swimmer of the Championships, Men's Swimming
Zach Mayhew, Athlete of the Year, Men's Cross Country
Derek Drouin, Field Athlete of the Year, Men's Indoor Track & Field and Field Athlete of the Championships, Men's Outdoor Track & Field

Co-SIDA and Capital One Academic All-Americans:
Adam Replogle, Football
Jordan Hulls, Men's Basketball
Cody Zeller, Men's Basketball
Andy Bayer, Men's Track and Field
Chelsea Blanchard, Women's Track and Field

2012 and 2013 All-Americans:
Men's Basketball
Victor Oladipo
Cody Zeller

Men's Cross Country
Zach Mayhew

Field Hockey
Morgan Fleetwood

Indoor Track and Field
Andy Bayer
Kyla Buckley
Derek Drouin
Rorey Hunter
Zach Mayhew
Nathan Pierre-Louis
Lance Roller

Outdoor Track and Field
Andy Bayer
Kyla Buckley
Kind Butler
Adrien Dannemiller
Derek Drouin
Emma Kimoto
Zach Mayhew
Olumide Olamigoke
Rex Parker
Andrew Poore
De'Sean Turner