Aug. 21, 2011
NORMAL, Ill. -
At the 11th annual Walk of Champions Sunday evening, junior track and field thrower Tim Glover and softball player Kara Nelson received the Illinois State Athlete of the Year awards for the 2010-11 season. Glover received the Milt Weisbecker Male Athlete of the Year Award and Nelson received the Jill Hutchison Female Athlete of the Year Award at the event, which welcomes new Redbird student-athletes to campus.
Glover won the 2011 NCAA national championship in the javelin with a personal-best toss of 263-06, earning him All-America honors. Glover is one of only three ISU track and field student-athletes to win a NCAA national championship. He finished first in four meets, including the MVC Outdoor Championships for All-Valley honors, and was named the Most Outstanding Field Athlete at the conference championships. The Normal, Ill., native broke his career-best mark three times throughout the season and holds the top-collegiate throw in the nation this year. Glover ended his historic sophomore season by qualifying for the 2011 USA National Outdoor Championships, where he finished as the top collegiate athlete in sixth place overall.
The other four male nominees were Ryan Court (baseball), Eric Brunner (football), Jeff Kellen (men's golf) and Alexander Pelaez (men's 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.
Nelson was named to the Easton All-America Second-Team, earned Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Mideast Region Second-Team honors and was selected as the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, and the All-MVC First-Team in 2011. She was named one of 30 finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Nelson led the conference in batting average (.417), hits (80) and total bases (112), scored a team high 41 runs and led the Redbirds with a .462 on-base percentage. The Moline, Ill., recorded her 300th-career hit in the final game of her career in the NCAA Tournament at Missouri (May 21). Nelson holds ISU career records for hits (301), doubles (49), runs scored (189), games started (223), total bases (435), at bats (750) and batting average (.401).
The other five female nominees were Emily Hanley (women's basketball), Brianna Cooper (women's golf), Hannah Deutsch (gymnastics), Jessica Carlson (soccer) and Brittany Smith (track and field).
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 analyst for Redbird 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 she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
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