Aug. 16, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
For the second-consecutive year, Kristi Cirone and Osiris Eldridge received the Illinois State Athlete of the Year awards, presented at the ninth annual Walk of Champions Sunday night. Rain forced the ceremony inside of Redbird Arena, but the spirit was not dampened. Cirone was presented the Jill Hutchison Female Athlete of the Year award and Eldridge won the Milt Weisbecker Male Athlete of the Year award, just as they both did after the 2007-08 season.
Cirone capped her career with even more record-setting performances. She became just the second player to win the Jackie Stiles Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year award for three-consecutive years, along with the award's namesake. A first-team all-conference and all-defensive team selection, she won the Valley scoring title (18.8 ppg) and ranked in the top-five in six other categories. For the second-consecutive year, she was named an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press and Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and she was a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award. She set Illinois State single-season records in scoring (657) and assists (203) to become the school's career leader in both categories.
Meaghan Koshman (gymnastics), Stacey Miller (golf), Abby Olson (softball), Katelyn Prorok (diving) and Samantha Springer (track and field) were the other Hutchison Award nominees.
The female athlete of the year award is named in honor of Hutchison, who retired from coaching women's basketball in 1999 after racking up 461 wins in 28 seasons at Illinois State. Now a radio and television analyst for Redbird and Missouri Valley Conference broadcasts, Hutchison was a pioneer and advocate for women in athletics throughout her coaching career. A banner in her honor hangs from the Redbird Arena rafters and earlier this summer she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
Eldridge won the 2007-08 Weisbecker Award and his performance last season made him worthy of another nomination. Eldridge was an All-Valley First Team pick for the second-consecutive year after averaging 14.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, ranking second on the team in both categories. He scored 18 points against Central Michigan to become the 21st player to amass 1,000 points at Illinois State. The Valley Preseason Player of the Year, Eldridge was named to the Valley All-Defensive Team and received the MVC Player of the Week award three times. He was named the State Farm MVC Tournament Most Outstanding Player after leading the Redbirds to the championship game, becoming just the second player in conference history to win the award as a member of the runner-up team.
The other Weisbcker Award nominees were Ryan Court (baseball), Joe Emerich (golf), Eyad Salem (football) and Skip Span (tennis).
The male athlete of the year award is named for Weisbecker, the former athletics director who led Illinois State through times of change from 1966 to 1974. As athletics director, he successfully led the university's athletic program from the NCAA College Division into Division I status. Additionally, Weisbecker had an outstanding record in seven seasons as the Redbird's head golf coach, including a fourth-place NCAA College Division finish in 1969.
