Dawgs Earn Six Seattle Sports Star Award Nominees
December 16, 2015 | General, Volleyball
Vote For the Huskies
SEATTLE -- The Seattle Sports Commission (SSC) has finalized the nominees for the 2016 MTR Western Sports Star of the Year, the Northwest's premier celebration of Washington sports. Among the finalists are several Husky nominees as Cheng-Tsung Pan is up for Male Athlete of the Year, while Mary Lou Mulflur, Kelsey Plum and Lianna Sybeldon are up for Female Athlete of the Year. In addition, the fifth-straight national title from Washington men's crew and the Elite Eight run by Husky volleyball are up for the Sports Story of the Year.
Now in its 81st year, the event has honored some of Seattle's most well-known and iconic sports individuals, legends, media and philanthropists. Once an individual has been named a Sports Star, he or she becomes a member of an elite group that forever etches their name in Seattle's sports history.
Nominees are selected by the Sports Star Committee, compiled of local sports historians, media and other members of the sports industry, and then voted on by the general public. The winners are announced during the 2016 MTR Western Sports Star of the Year show hosted at the Paramount Theatre on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.
Pan is coming off a historic season for Washington golf as well as beginning his professional career. He set the UW career record with eight wins at the NCAA Bremerton Regional and then followed that up with a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships. Pan then played in the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay for his first professional event, making the cut. He moved on to the Canadian PGA Tour where he finished second on the Money List, despite missing five events. Most recently, he earned his Web.com Tour Card at the Qualifying School with a T-14th-place finish.
Mulflur capped off a season for the UW women's golf record books by being named the GolfWeek National Coach of the Year for the 2014-15 season. The long-time Husky coach led the Dawgs to a No. 1 national ranking and a program record and nation-leading six tournament wins even after losing two of their top players to the professional ranks in the fall. With just five players on her roster for the spring, Mulflur's squad continued its strong play winning three more tournaments to qualify for the NCAA Championships where they went on to finish in a tie for fifth overall. Four of Mulflur's five players earned a spot on one of GolfWeek's All-America teams led by Charlotte Thomas who finished tied for 12th at the NCAA Championships.
Plum continues to rewrite the Washington women's basketball scoring record book, while leading the Dawgs back to the NCAA Tournament. Last season, she broke the single-season scoring record at UW with 746 points, while leading the Pac-12 in scoring at 22.6 points per game. At the end of the season, she was a Wooden Top-15 Nominee, while also earning All-Pac-12 and WBCA All-Region honors. As a team, the Dawgs returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007, led by Plum. This season, the guard leads the nation in scoring through nine games at 28.0 per night, while the Huskies are off to a 7-2 start.
Sybeldon proved to be one of the most unstoppable attackers in the NCAA, as she became just the third player in Pac-12 history to hit over .450 for a season. The hard-hitting senior middle blocker became the first Husky middle blocker named a First Team All-American since 1997, as she led the Huskies to a share of the Pac-12 Championship and a trip to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. She led the Huskies in kills and blocks, and finished third all-time in career blocks at Washington, and first in the rally scoring era, with 543. Sybeldon was part of a senior class that won more matches than any other group in Husky history, with 117 victories against just 16 defeats.
UW men's crew made history by winning its fifth straight Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championship, the only team to ever win five in a row. UW swept all five races at the IRAs, the third five-race sweep in the last four years for the Huskies. No other team has ever swept all five races. The Huskies are in the midst of the most dominant run in men's collegiate rowing history, having won six of the last seven IRA National Championships under head coach Michael Callahan and nine straight Ten Eyck trophies as the overall points champion.
After losing two-time Honda Award Winner Krista Vansant to graduation and dealing with a head coaching change, many might have expected the Washington volleyball program to take a step down from its perennial status as a national contender. But led by a six-member senior class and a group of sophomore outside hitters that stepped up to the challenge, Washington only took another step forward, winning a share of the Pac-12 Championship for the fourth time in school history, and advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament for the eighth time since 2003. First year Head Coach Keegan Cook earned Region Coach of the Year honors in his first season as he guided a balanced Husky squad that posted a 31-3 record and a perfect 17-0 mark at Alaska Airlines Arena. Lianna Sybeldon earned First Team All-America honors, with Cassie Strickland named All-America honorable mention and All-Pac-12. Tia Scambray, Crissy Jones, Bailey Tanner, and Melanie Wade all were named All-Pac-12 honorable mention as well, and freshman Destiny Julye was an All-Freshman Team honorable mention.
Voting opens today, Wednesday, December 16 at 10 a.m. PST and closes Friday, January 29, 2016 at 5 p.m. PST. Fans can vote for their favorite male, female and sports story of the year online at http://ssy.seattlesports.org/ssyvoting/Vote.aspx.
The full list of nominees for the 2016 MTR Western Sports Star of the Year are:
Female Sports Star of the Year:
· Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm)
· Mary Lou Mulflur (UW Women's Golf Coach)
· Kelsey Plum (UW Basketball)
· Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC)
· Lianna Sybeldon (UW Volleyball)
· Kamilah Williamson (Special Olympic Swimming)
Male Sports Star of the Year:
· Michael Bennett (Seattle Seahawks)
· Nelson Cruz (Seattle Mariners)
· Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC)
· Luke Falk (WSU Football)
· Pete Fewing (Seattle U Men's Soccer Coach)
· Cheng-Tsung Pan (UW Golf)
Sports Story of the Year:
· Chambers Bay Hosts the U.S. Open
· Seahawks comeback in NFC Championship Game
· UW Men's Crews' 5th Consecutive National Championship
· Seattle Reign wins consecutive NWSL Championships
· UW Volleyball to the Elite 8
Tickets to the show can be purchased online as either a table ticket package or individual reserved ticket. More details about the upcoming event and pricing can be found on our website www.sportsstaroftheyear.org. To stay up-to-date with information as the event approaches follow the SSC Twitter account, @SportsStarSEA, or the event hashtag, #SSY16.
