2004 NCAA Today's Top VIII Award Recipients



Alice (Duesing) Nightingale

Alice (Duesing) Nightingale
Lake Superior State University
Basketball

Named the 2003 Division II Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioners Association, Nightingale is the all-time scoring leader at Lake Superior State with 1,933 points. The 2003 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball player of the year also holds the school record for free-throw percentage. In addition to leading the team in scoring all four seasons of her career, she also led the squad in rebounding for three seasons. An NCAA Division II Kodak/Women's Basketball Coaches Association and a Division II Daktronics all-American, Nightingale led the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in field-goal percentage in 2003 and was honored as the most valuable player for the conference tournament.

Nightingale, a 2003 NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner, was a Division II Academic all-American and a four-time selection to the conference all-academic team. She also was chosen as the GLIAC women's scholar-athlete of the year for 2003. A mechanical engineering major, Nightingale was selected as Lake Superior State's outstanding mechanical engineering graduate and outstanding engineering student-athlete.

In addition to serving as a member of the Lake Superior State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Nightingale also was co-leader of the team Bible study. She volunteered as a coach for area elementary school girls' basketball teams and with other community agencies, including Head Start and Habitat for Humanity.


Andrew Hilliard

Andrew Hilliard
University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
Football and track and field

Hilliard, a two-sport student-athlete for the Tommies, is a six-time track and field all-American and a four-year starter at wide receiver for the football squad. He placed in the top five in the 1,600-meter relay at each NCAA Division III men's outdoor track and field national championships since 2000. He also is a four-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion in the 1,600-meter relay and a three-time champion in the 400-meter hurdles. In addition, he collected conference titles in the 1,600-meter relay and the long jump in 2003. Hilliard finished his football career second on the school's career receiving yards list and with two three-touchdown games to his credit.

The 2003 Academic all-American of the Year for men's track and field, Hilliard also is an NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner. The mathematics major earned the 2003 Woody Hayes National Scholar-Athlete Award as the male Division III student-athlete of the year. Hilliard also is a 2002 College Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete.

Hilliard served as chair of the school's student-athlete advisory committee and was an active member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In addition to volunteering for Habitat for Humanity and the Loaves and Fishes Foodshelf, Hilliard also volunteered as a weightlifting coach for the Special Olympics and in physical education classes at Bailey Elementary School.


Craig Krenzel

Craig Krenzel
Ohio State University
Football

As quarterback for the Buckeyes, Krenzel led Ohio State to the Big Ten Conference championship and the national championship in 2002 en route to earning recognition as the offensive most valuable player of that year's Fiesta Bowl. Krenzel, captain of the 2003 squad, was ranked ninth on the school's career passing list. He won the Archie Griffin Offensive Player of the Year award in 2002.

The molecular genetics major is a three-time Big Ten Conference all-academic team selection and was a second-team Academic all-American in 2002. Krenzel earned Ohio State's Academic Achievement Award three times and the university's Exceptional Academic Award 11 times. Last year, Krenzel was winner of the Sporting News' Socrates Award.

A frequent visitor to the James Cancer Hospital and Children's Hospital, Krenzel also served as a speaker at DARE graduations and at local Columbus schools, and he also volunteered at a food pantry.


Theresa Kulikowski

Theresa Kulikowski
University of Utah
Gymnastics

The 1999 and 2000 national collegiate women's gymnastics all-around champion, Kulikowski placed third in the balance beam and in the all-around competition at the 2002 national championships. Voted the 2003 American Athletic, Inc., Senior Athlete of the Year by collegiate coaches as the most outstanding senior female gymnast, she captained the Utes' 2003 team. Kulikowski was a 2002-03 Honda Award nominee and collected all-America first-team honors in the uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise, vault and the all-around.

A triple major in psychology, exercise science and pre-physical therapy, Kulikowski is a 2003 NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner and a Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship nominee. The 2003 Mountain West Conference Woman Student-Athlete of the Year also was honored as the Academic all-American of the Year for all sports. In addition, Kulikowski was the All-Academic Team Member of the Year in 2002.

In the community, Kulikowski implemented a physical activity program for three months at a low-income elementary school. She also was a guest speaker at the "Five a Day" nutrition promotional program at the Utah Capitol Building. Kulikowski was a volunteer for the Children's Center in Salt Lake City, where she worked with emotionally disturbed children.


Kara Lawson

Kara Lawson
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Basketball

A 2003 NCAA Woman of the Year state winner and top 10 finalist, Lawson shot her way into Tennessee women's basketball history as the Volunteers' all-time leader in three-point field goals made, three-point field goals attempted and free-throw percentage. She also is ranked second in all-time games played and games started. The 2003 College Sports Television Network player of the year, Lawson was the 2003 Frances Pomeroy Naismith award and a Wade Trophy finalist in the same year.

The finance major was named to the Kodak/Women's Basketball Coaches Association and the United States Basketball Women's Association all-America first teams. Lawson has been a first-team Academic All-America selection and was academic all-Southeastern Conference in 2001, 2002 and 2003. She also was named as the 2003 Arthur Ashe Sports Scholars Female Student-Athlete of the Year.

In 2003, Lawson was designated as the Southeastern Conference community-service award winner and the University of Tennessee Community Service Athlete of the Year. That same year, she served as president of Tennessee's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She has been a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes since 2001. A volunteer at Sam E. Hills and West Hill Elementary Schools since 2000, Lawson has directed sports clinics for the Girl Scouts and served as a speaker for numerous campus organizations, events and elementary schools.


Eli Manning

Eli Manning
University of Mississippi
Football

Manning was the recipient of the 2003 Maxwell Award as the best all-around player in college football and also was selected as the 2003 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner as the top senior quarterback in the nation. Manning established 45 single-game, season and career records as the quarterback for the Rebels and led the Southeastern Conference in passing yards per game, completions, touchdown passes, pass efficiency and total offense per game in 2003.

The 2003 National Football Foundation Scholar Athlete award winner, Manning was a three-time SEC academic honor roll member and earned recognition on the dean's list, chancellor's list and University of Mississippi Athletic Association honor roll.

Manning has visited senior citizens at the Azalea Gardens, an extended care center in Oxford, Mississippi, since 1999. He also has served as a mentor to kids at the Oxford Learning Center, for the Lafayette County, Mississippi, Juvenile Justice Program 1999, and has worked with kids at area day care centers.


Kristin Sterner

Kristin Sterner
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Gymnastics

Sterner, a 2003 NCAA Woman of the Year state winner and top 10 finalist, led the Crimson Tide to the National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships team title in 2002. She also helped Alabama capture Southeastern Conference championship crowns in 2000 and 2003. In her career, Sterner, who has been team captain since the 2001 season, has collected two NCAA Central region championships on the balance beam and one each in the all-around competition and the vault. She secured a sixth-place finish on the balance beam at the 2003 national championships and was a first-team all-American on the balance beam and uneven bars.

Sterner is a 2003 NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner as well as the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The biology major is winner of the conference's Boyd McWhorter Scholarship and a first-team Academic all-American. A 2003 inductee into XXXI, an elite University of Alabama women's honorary, Sterner was named as the school's women's scholar athlete of the year for 2002-03 and is a dean's list and president's list honoree.

Sterner holds membership in Beta Beta Beta, a biology honorary, as well as in the McCollough Medial Scholars Forum and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She participated on the Student-Athlete Advisory Board at Alabama from 2000 to 2003 and helped serve food to the homeless at a Salvation Army soup kitchen. She also read and spoke to sixth graders at a local middle school.


Leoandra Willis Rogers

Leoandra Willis Rogers
University of California, Los Angeles
Gymnastics

Rogers, team co-captain for the Bruins' gymnastics team and school record-holder in the vault and floor exercise, helped lead UCLA to national championships in 2001 and 2003. The 2003 Pacific-10 Conference gymnast of the year, she earned all-conference honors in the all-around, vault and uneven bars. Rogers also was the conference champion in the all-around and co-champion in uneven bars in 2002. She guided the Bruins to three conference championships en route to collecting all-America recognition in the vault, floor exercise, uneven bars and balance beam. Rogers was the 2000 UCLA co-rookie of the year.

Rogers is a 2003 NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner and Honda Award honoree. She also was the 2003 recipient of the Jill Andrews award as the student-athlete who best represents integrity in all aspects of her life. She won the Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar award in 2002-03 and was named to the Pacific-10 all-academic first team in addition to being named as a National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches Scholastic all-American.

Since 1999, Rogers has been a UCLA gymnastics team mentor, trained to address athletics, academic or personal issues of teammates. She also has participated in the "I'm Going to College" program by giving tours to inner-city children and escorting them to sporting events. She was a volunteer for the Bruins for Relief effort, which gathered donations at football games to provide scholarship money for children of September 11 victims, and she served as a camp counselor at the UCLA Unicamp for underprivileged youth.