Student-Athletes Honored at 2020 Spirit of Indiana Showcase

4/27/2020 7:52:00 PM | General, Men's Basketball, Men's Soccer, Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Basketball, Women's Swimming and Diving, Women's Water Polo, Wrestling, Academic Services

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics honored its student-athletes at the 10^th annual Spirit of Indiana Showcase on Monday, April 27. The recognition happened online through Facebook live.

A highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Spirit of Indiana Director's Award, given by Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass to two student-athletes that best represent The Spirit of Indiana: 24 Sports, 1 Team.

"With so much of our effort and energy focused on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in recent weeks, the Spirit of Indiana Showcase is a wonderful and refreshing opportunity to applaud the tremendous accomplishments and sacrifices our students have made during the last year," said IU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass. "While we are sorry that we can't come together physically to celebrate, it was important that we find this unconventional way to applaud these extraordinary individual and team achievements."

This year's honorees for the Director's Award are Brenna Wise (Women's Basketball) and Nick Westbrook (Football).

Brenna Wise topped off her incredible career by helping lead Indiana to a program-record 24 wins in 2019-20. In her two years for the Hoosiers, Wise started in all 66 games while racking up a career-total 1,421 points and 849 rebounds over her four years. In 2019-20, Wise led IU in rebounding with 5.9 boards per game and averaged 7.9 points per contest. She shot 42.2 percent from the field and 72.1 percent from the free throw line while scoring in double figures six times.

A Senior CLASS Award Top 10 finalist, Wise also led the Hoosiers to its first top 5 non-conference win over South Carolina in November where she scored 16 points. A two-time Academic All-Big Ten, Wise was also a CoSIDA Academic All-District pick in 2018-19 and will graduate in May 2020 with a dual degree in professional sales and marketing with a 3.89 GPA.

Nick Westbrook graduated with a business marketing degree in Dec. 2019. A 2019 team captain, Westbrook finished his career with 144 receptions for 2,226 yards and 16 touchdowns. He ranks sixth in catches, seventh in yardage and TDs, and tied for seventh in 100-yard receiving games (6) in the IU record book. Westbrook, who played in the 2020 East-West Shrine Bowl, became the seventh Hoosier to reach 125 receptions and 2,000 yards. The four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree appeared in a program-record 52 games (36 starts).

Indiana Deputy Director of Athletics and future Director of Athletics Scott Dolson announced that the Director's Award will be renamed the G. Frederick Glass Director's Award in honor of retiring Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass.

The department also recognized the Big Ten Medal of Honor recipients. The award is given to a person who strives for excellence in both athletics and academics.

The Big Ten, the nation's oldest collegiate conference, commemorates the 106^th anniversary of a very unique tradition - the Big Ten Medal of Honor. The conference's most exclusive award was the first of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence. The Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work." Big Ten schools currently feature almost 9,500 student-athletes, but only 28 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis. In the 106 years of the Medal of Honor, over 1,400 student-athletes have earned this distinction.
The women's honoree this year is Emily Powell (Water Polo) and the men's honoree Jake Kleimola (Wrestling).

Emily Powell finished her career at Indiana by helping the Hoosiers finish with a 13-5 record, including a 10-game winning streak to finish off the season and was named a captain twice in both 2019 and 2020. She finished the season with three goals, nine assists and eight steals, including a season-high three assists against Villanova at the Indiana Classic. Powell finished with a career line of 37 goals, 59 assists and 69 steals and was a member of the Fifth-Place CWPA Championship team.

Putting in work both in and out of the pool, Powell, a political science major, was named to the Outstanding CWPA Women's Varsity Scholar-Athlete Team and named an Outstanding ACWPC All-Academic honoree in both 2017 and 2018. Once the Hoosiers moved to the MPSF in 2019, she was named an MPSF All-Academic Scholar Athlete and Academic All-Big Ten her junior season. Powell was also involved in many organizations throughout her time at IU. This list includes the Hutton's Honor College and Chi Alpha Sigma, which is the national college athlete honor society. She was also a part of the Athletic Director's Council on Diversity and Inclusion as the representative from the Water Polo team, which participated in monthly meetings with Indiana University's athletic director, Fred Glass. Upon graduation, Powell is expected to start law school back home in Australia. ?

Kleimola, a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree earned 10 wins this season and was the runner-up at the Journeyman Classic. In his junior season, Kleimola finished in seventh-place at the Big Ten Championships. Kleimola has been a Hoosier Hero Peer Mentor to fellow student-athletes and regularly volunteers his time in the Bloomington community for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, St. Mark's, Everybody Plays and Read Across America. Kleimola is a Finance major at Indiana.

In addition, Indiana athletics dining services worker affectionally known as Miss Pat was presented with a Bicentennial Medal. She is a huge fan of IU athletics and loved by all of the student-athletes and staff.

In addition to the Spirit of Indiana Director's Award and Big Ten Medal of Honor, the following honors were presented:

Spirit of Indiana Director's Award (given to two senior student-athletes, which best represent The Spirit of Indiana: 24 Sports, One Team):
Brenna Wise (Women's Basketball)
Nick Westbrook (Football)

Big Ten Medal of Honor
Emily Powell (Water Polo)
Jake Kleimola (Wrestling )

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):
Megan Grabowski (Women's Track and Field)

Jake Gimble Award (given to a senior male student-athlete who has distinguished himself in athletics and scholarship and who has displayed an outstanding mental attitude):
Sean Caufield (Men's Soccer)

Jack D. Tichenor Award (which is given to a male and female student-athlete with the highest grade point average across all sports):
Allison Jorden (Women's Soccer)
Andrew Redding (Men's Tennis)

Hoosier Comeback Award
Josie Grote (Women's Swimming)
Cole Vandevender (Men's Diving )

Indiana Player of the Year Award
The entire class of 2020

Scholastic Achievement Award
Baseball: Drew Ashley
M. Basketball: Adrian Chapman
W. Basketball: Brenna Wise
M. Cross Country: Ben Veatch
W. Cross Country: Grace Walther
M. Diving: Andrew Capobianco
Field Hockey: Sachi Ananias
Football: Harry Crider
M. Golf: Evan Yakubov
W. Golf: Priscilla Schmid
Rowing: Elizabeth Saunders
M. Soccer: Spencer Glass
W. Soccer: Allison Jorden
Softball: Gabbi Jenkins
M. Swimming: Wyeth Brock
W. Swimming; Josie Grote
M. Tennis: Andrew Redding
W. Tennis: Michelle McKamey
M. Track: Cooper Williams
W. Track: Leah Moran
Volleyball: Meaghan Koors
Water Polo: Emily Powell
Wrestling: Spencer Irick

Hoosier Award (which recognizes a student-athlete for bringing honor and distinction to Indiana University in their representative sport during the academic year):
Aljami Durham
Drew Ashley
Arjun Jha
Simon Stepaniak
Jack Sparrow
Jack Maher
Mohamed Sammy
Mory Gould
Bennett Crane
Adam Coulon
Graham Rooks
Grace Berger
Sachi Ananias
Sarah Schmitt
Mary Parsons
Kelsey Schmitt
Allison Jorden
Grayson Radcliffe
Cassy Jernberg
Kayla Luarde
Michelle McKamey
Maddie Pollard
Breana Edwards
Davis Simmons

Big Ten Sportsmanship Award (which recognizes student-athletes from each sport for demonstrating outstanding sportsmanship in their respective sport throughout the year):
Joey Brunk
Jeremy Houston
Bryce Miller
Hunter Littlejohn
Evan Gaesser
Jack Maher
Brock Brown
Seamus Scotty
Carson Haskins
Brock Mammoser
Jonathan Moran
Hannah Noveroske
Jessica McGivern
Jenna Barker
Mary Parsons
Paige Spiller
Hanna Nemeth
Katie Lacefield
Josie Grote
Carmen Hernandez
Annabelle Andrinopoulos
Joely Pinkston
Meaghan Koors
Emily Powell

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):
Ali Patberg
Jessica McGivern
Kelsey Harris
Priscilla Schmid
Jordie Miller
Allison Jorden
Emily Goodin
Josie Grote
Zain Smith
Caitlin Bernard
Leah Moran
Emily Fitzner
Gillian Gatecliff

Here is a replay of the Spirit of Indiana Showcase.