Photo Gallery I
End of Year Highlights
INDIANAPOLIS - IUPUI volleyball standout
Kaitlyn Hickey and men's runner
Joey Zielinski have been named the 2015-16 IUPUI Melvyn Garland Distinguished Student-Athlete Award winners as the athletics department announced its postseason award honorees on Wednesday night (Apr. 27) at the Ivy Tech Conference Center. In addition,
Julie Riggins was presented with the Dorothy Cheesman Award and men's swimmer
Zach Bennett collected the Jaguars Athletics Club Academic Achievement Award.
The Garland Awards are given to the top male and female athletes from the senior class while the JAC Academic Achievement and Cheesman Awards are given to the top male and female seniors, based on grade point averages.
Hickey capped a banner four-year career by earning back-to-back honorable mention AVCA All-American honors and the 2015 Summit League Player of the Year Award. She was also one of 30 national candidates for the Senior CLASS Award and was chosen as IUPUI's Geico Athlete of the Year. The Granger, Ind.-native finished the season with 454 kills and 372 digs, averaging 3.88 kills and 3.18 digs per set in 2015. Late in the season, she became the first player in IUPUI and Summit League history to surpass 1,500 career kills and 1,500 career digs. She ended her IUPUI career as the program's all-time leader in kills (1,665) and fourth in digs (1,592). This past season, she hit for double-digit kills in 27 of the Jaguars' 31 matches this past season, including topping 20 kills on four different occasions.
Hickey helped the IUPUI volleyball program reach an entirely new level, helping the Jaguars to 82 wins in four years and an impeccable 49-13 mark (.790) in Summit League play. The Jaguars have been dominant at home throughout her career, amassing a 39-8 record (.830) inside the Jungle. Included in that four-year run were three Summit League regular season titles and a 2013 NCAA Tournament appearance.
Similarly, Zielinski is amidst a four-year run of excellence for the men's cross country and track programs. The South Bend, Ind.-native is a three-time All-Summit League performer in cross country and a three-time league champion in indoor track. In cross country, Zielinski has helped elevate the Jaguars to new heights as IUPUI has captured the last two Summit League titles and the program's first-ever Indiana Intercollegiates championship this past fall. He earned first team All-League honors with a third-place finish in 2013 and has since collected back-to-back Second Team awards while helping the Jags to team titles. On the track, Zielinski was a two-time individual champion as a junior on the indoor track, winning league titles in both the 3,000 and 5,000m events. This past season, he repeated as indoor champion in the 5,000m race for his third individual title.
He finishes with four of the 15 fastest 8K cross country times in school history and three of the fastest 10K efforts. On the track, he's been part of school record setting teams in both the 4x400 and 4x800 relays.
Riggins earned the Dorothy Cheesman Award for compiling a 3.98 grade point average while majoring in exercise science in the School of Physical Education and Tourism Management. She has been the epitome of student-athlete throughout her career, being named to IUPUI's Academic Advisor's List and The Summit League's Academic Honor Roll as a distinguished scholar every possible semester. She was recently accepted into IUPUI's physical therapy program and will begin graduate studies this fall.
Bennett earned the Jaguars Athletics Club Academic Achievement Award by amassing a 3.64 GPA while majoring in biology in the School of Science. In addition to his academic and athletic rigors, Bennett is a two-time President of the IUPUI Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, helping initiate extensive change and oversight in the group's governing body. Like Riggins, Bennett has been named to IUPUI's Academic Advisor's List and The Summit League's Academic Honor Roll as a distinguished scholar every possible semester. He was recently accepted into dental school, where he will begin studies in the fall.
