Washington University in St. Louis Presents 11 Student-Athletes With W Club Awards at 25th Annual Student-Athlete Banquet
St. Louis, Mo., May 2, 2011 – Washington University in St. Louis named 11 student-athletes as the top performers in their respective classes for the 2010-11 school year at the 25th annual athletic department student-athlete banquet, as announced by the WU Athletics Department.
In addition to the W Club Distinguished Senior Awards and the Lucy and Stanley Lopata Rookie Awards, the Carl and Alice Briggson Sophomore Awards, and the Art and Marge McWilliams and the Stanley and Ann Rose Junior Awards were presented.
Established in 1989-90 by the school’s athletic support group, the W Club Distinguished Senior Athlete of the Year Award is bestowed annually to a male and female athlete for their contributions to the athletic program at Washington University.
Women’s basketball’s Kathryn Berger and softball’s Claire Voris received the honor on the women’s side, while men’s soccer’s Harry Beddo, football’s Brandon Brown and track and field’s Ben Harmon each earned the men’s accolade.
Berger capped off an incredible season by leading the women’s basketball team to an appearance in the NCAA Championship game for a third-straight season. After leading the Bears with 14.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, she earned Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) first-team All-America honors in addition to being named a D3Hoops.com third-team All-American and a first-team All-UAA honoree. Berger finished her career ranked seventh in school history with 1,143 points and sixth with 717 rebounds and became just the third student-athlete in program history to score at least 1,000 points and pull down 700 rebounds during a career. She averaged 19 points per game at the 2011 Final Four, where she earned NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team honors, and had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Amherst College in the national championship game.
Voris has established herself as one of the most dominating pitchers in school history. She is 14-4 this season on the mound with a 2.26 earned run average, and leads the conference with 172 strikeouts. At the plate, Voris is hitting a career-best .393 with five home runs and 34 RBIs. She is a two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) all-Midwest Region and UAA MVP. Voris is also a four-time All-UAA honoree and earned NFCA second-team All-America honors in 2009, making her one of seven All-Americans in school history. She ranks first all-time in complete games (70), games pitched (115) and innings pitched (625.1), and second in wins (69), shutouts (24), strikeouts (791) and fourth in earned run average (1.78). Voris’ 791 strikeouts rank 22nd in NCAA Division III history. At the plate, she is sixth all-time in triples (six) and ninth in home runs (12), stolen bases (22) and RBIs (80). She is a three-time Academic All-UAA honoree and has earned 14 UAA Athlete of the Week awards.
Beddo capped off an incredible four-year career at Washington University by being named a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) first-team All-American. A shutdown defender and one of the most versatile players in the nation, he helped anchor a defensive unit that ranked sixth in Division III in 2010 with a 0.42 goals against average and 16th with a 0.6 shutout percentage, recording 12 shutouts in 20 games while allowing just nine goals all season. Beddo also earned D3Soccer.com third-team All-America honors and received first-team All-UAA accolades for the second time in his career. He was just the fourth-student athlete in program history to be named a first-team All-American and only the eighth All-American overall. Beddo tallied 17 goals and seven assists for 41 points during his career.
Brown concluded his four-year career on the Danforth Campus by earning D3football.com first-team All-America honors. He is the first Washington University student-athlete to garner football All-America honors since 2006, and is the 35th student-athlete in school history to earn the distinction. Brown is also the ninth first-team All-American selection in Bears’ football history, and the first in 11 years. He was a first-team all-UAA and D3football.com All-South Region Team selection in 2010. The UAA Defensive Player of the Year, Brown made 40 tackles and had two interceptions as a senior. He also led the team and the UAA with 16 passes defended. Brown started all 40 games at cornerback in his career making 160 tackles with 12 interceptions, which ties for seventh most in school history. Brown also finished his career with 41 pass break-ups.
Harmon continued to affirm his position as one of the most accomplished student-athletes in Washington University history with two more All-America finishes at the 2011 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships. He finished fourth in the pentathlon and eighth in the long jump to capture the fourth and fifth All-America finishes of his career. Harmon has automatically qualified to compete in the decathlon at this year’s Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Additionally, he helped the Washington University men’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams sweep the UAA Championships for the second year in a row, and he was named the most outstanding performer in the field events at both conference meets.
Awarded for the 12th year, the Art and Marge McWilliams Junior Award was presented to women’s cross country and track and field’s Elizabeth Phillips, while the Stanley and Ann Rosen Junior Award was presented to men’s track and field’s Dan Davis.
Phillips helped lead the women’s cross country team to a school-record second-place finish at the 2010 NCAA Division III Championships by placing 23rd overall at the national meet. She garnered NCAA All-Region honors with a sixth-place finish at the Midwest Region Championships and was a first-team All-UAA honoree, placing fourth at the conference meet. Phillips also helped the women’s distance medley relay team capture second place at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, where she was named the Division III Elite 88 winner for the second year in a row. She won the mile and the distance medley relay at the UAA indoor championships and the 800, 1,500 and 4x800 relay at the UAA Outdoor meet.
Davis became a two-time All-American in the 55-meter hurdles with a second-place finish at the 2011 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships in March. He set a new school record with a time of 7.47 at the NCAA finals and is the first student-athlete in school history to earn two All-America finishes in the event. Davis also helped the Bears sweep the UAA indoor and outdoor championships for the second year in a row. He was named the Indoor UAA Most Outstanding Performer in the Running Events after winning the UAA title in the 55-hurdles and earning All-UAA honors in the 200-meter and 55-meter dash. Davis captured the 110-hurdle, and 4x100 and 4x400 relay titles at the UAA outdoor meet and has automatically qualified for the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 110-hurdles with an automatic qualifying time of 14.34.
Also being awarded for the 12th year, the Carl and Alice Briggson Awards are presented to the top sophomore male and female student-athletes, respectively, for their achievements through the first half of their collegiate careers. Volleyball’s Kelly Pang was tabbed as the women’s honoree while swimming and diving’s Brendan Morin earned the men’s award.
Pang helped lead the volleyball team to a second-straight appearance in the national semifinals while continuing to establish herself as one of the premier defensive collegiate players in the nation. Pang repeated as a first-team American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American, in addition to earning first-team All-Central Region and first-team All-UAA accolades. She was named to the Kenosha, Wis. Regional All-Tournament Team and also garnered 2010 NCAA Championship All-Tournament honors. Pang led the Bears with 583 digs, the fourth-highest single-season total in school history, while recording double-digit digs in 20 matches. Pang, who finished the year ranked 35th in Division III with 5.66 digs per set, notched a season-high 32 digs against Juniata College on Sept. 18, and tallied at least 20 digs in 13 matches.
Morin earned All-America finishes in three events to help the men’s swimming and diving team to a 16th place finish at the 2011 NCAA Division III Championships. He came in 13th place in the 100-yard butterfly at the NCAA’s with a school-record breaking time of 49.54, becoming the first student-athlete in school history to earn All-America honors in the event. Morin was also a member of the Bears’ school-record breaking seventh-place 200-medley relay team and ninth-place 400-free relay squad at the NCAA Championships. He captured the 100-butterly title at the 2011 UAA Championships and earned All-UAA accolades in four total events with second-place finishes in the 200-free, 200-medley and 400-free relays.
Named in honor of two dedicated supporters of Washington University, the Lopata Rookie of the Year Awards were inaugurated in 1997 and are presented annually to one male and one female freshman athlete. Swimming and diving’s Chi Pham was named the women’s winner and baseball’s Kyle Billig was the men’s recipient.
Pham concluded her impressive rookie campaign at Washington U. by capturing a pair of individual All-America finishes at the 2011 Division III Swimming & Diving Championships. She finished fifth in the nation in the 100-yard backstroke, breaking the school record with a time of 56.09, and swam a personal-best time of 2:04.52 in her ninth place finish in the 200-yard individual medley. Pham captured the 100-backstroke title at the 2011 UAA Championships, where she also garnered all-conference honors in the 200-IM, 200-freestyle relay and 200-medley relay en route to being named the UAA Women’s Rookie of the Year. The Bears’ 200-free and 200-medley relay teams each broke school records at the UAA Championships with times of 1:36.49 and 1:46.95 respectively.
Billig stepped in and made an immediate impact on the baseball team during his first year on the Danforth Campus. Starting in 43 games this season, he ranks fifth on the team with a .342 batting average and fourth with a .420 on-base percentage, scoring a team-high 52 runs to go along with 22 RBIs and a school-record 34 stolen bases. Billig stole a season-high five bases in a 14-4 win over Principia College and had a stretch of eight-straight games with at least one steal from March 12-March 19. He has 16 multi-hit games in 2011 and has seen action defensively in the outfield and at shortstop, boasting a .915 fielding percentage with 80 putouts and 49 assists. Billig’s 34 stolen bases ranks first in the UAA and fourth in Division III.