Carder Henry, APSU Athletics

Baseball April 26, 2018 Colby Wilson, Associate Director of Athletics Communications

And the winner is... Govs honored for outstanding year at second annual ESPEAY's

CLARKSVILLE—The stars turned out to the Dunn Center Thursday night for a uniquely Austin Peay event.

The Second Annual ESPEAY's were handed out Thursday night in the Dunn Center, honoring the best and brightest Austin Peay athletics has had to offer during the 2017-18 season. While there were no shortage of outstanding nominees to the 2018 edition of the show, the top individual prizes were accorded to Kristen Stucker, Jaison Williams, Malik Boynton and Ashley Slay.

Stucker, who was named the Most Outstanding Female Athlete, piloted the offense for Austin Peay volleyball's 30-win juggernaut. In so doing, she became the first player in Ohio Valley Conference history to win Setter of the Year twice, taking the honor again in 2017 to go along with another All-OVC nod and another All-Tournament recognition. With 1,508 assists, she's the first Gov in program history to reach 1,500 in a season and helped the Governors earn both an OVC regular-season and tournament title.

The Johnston, Iowa native saved her best for season's end, marshaling Austin Peay's offense to a .287 attack percentage over its 11-game run-up to the NCAA Tournament. She was one of just three players in Division I this season to post more than 1,500 assists, including 21 games with 40 or more assists and an incredible 60 in the OVC Championship contest against Murray State.

In addition to her accolades on the court, Stucker continued to excel in the classroom. She's a shoo-in for her third straight appearance on the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll and likely to receive a third straight Academic Medal of Honor based on another year of perfect grades. She turned her second CoSIDA Academic All-District nod into her first Academic All-American honor and earned one of six OVC Scholar-Athlete awards, the highest individual honor that can be bestowed on an OVC student-athlete.

Williams was a one-man wrecking crew for the Govs during the season, finishing the year with a team-high 9.5 sacks – good for second in the OVC – and 11.5 tackles for loss to earn Most Outstanding Male honors. Williams started all 12 games for a much-improved Governors defense, forcing a club-high four fumbles. He concluded the 2017 season with 44 tackles and 13 quarterback hurries. A finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award – given to the nation's top defensive player – Williams was selected as a First-Team All-OVC defensive lineman in November and second-team AP FCS All-American in December.

No single Gov did more damage than Williams during the campaign. Among his highlights were:

A two-sack game against FBS foe Miami-Ohio
2.5 sacks and a forced fumble against UT Martin
Ten tackles (1.5 TFL), two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery against nationally-ranked Jacksonville State
A two-sack game against Tennessee State, wherein he opened and closed the day with sacks to force a three-and-out on TSU's first drive and again on the last play of the game
Four hurries, a pass break up and a sack against Southeast Missouri

Few stories through the years have been as inspiring as Malik Boynton's, Williams' counterpart on the Governors defense and the Male Legends Award recipient as the most outstanding senior athlete. Hailing from Detroit, Boynton persevered through tough times at a young age—he lost his mother right before he started high school, beginning a tumultuous few years during a critical point in his life.

Athletics became his haven and he excelled. When he first came to Austin Peay, it was as a receiver/kick returner—he was one of the 25 most prolific returners in FCS as a freshman, averaging 22.8 yards per return. He moved to the other side of the ball as a defensive back as a sophomore and became a three-year starter, posting at least 40 tackles in each of his last three seasons despite losing three games to injury to close out the 2016 campaign.

This year, he was the captain and linchpin of an Austin Peay squad that completed the program's dramatic turnaround, helping lead the Govs to an 8-4 record thanks to a team-high tying three forced fumbles and two recoveries. He also recorded his first career interception during the Morehead State game as the Govs snapped the nation's longest losing streak and kicked off their incredible run.

The Female Legends winner, Slay will be remembered as a legend in every sense of the word. The 2017 OVC Player of the Year finished her career with two All-OVC selections, 1,289 kills (fifth in program history), a .271 attack percentage (second) and a program-record 349 career blocks, becoming just the second Gov in program history with two seasons of 100 or more blocks.

Her 2017 swan song will be the standard by which future Govs are measured. In addition to becoming just the fourth OVC Player of the Year in program history, Slay led the Govs to their first OVC title since 2010, aiding a dominant Austin Peay squad that won a program-record 30 matches and the OVC regular season for the first time since 1992. The Nashville native set career-highs across the board in kills (475), aces (25), digs (124) and was just five blocks short of her career-high 109 set in 2016.

As good of a player as Slay is, her spirit is equally the stuff of legend. Not only was she the heart and soul of the dancing, chanting conference volleyball champions, the senior was a vocal supporter of every Austin Peay squad and was the epitome of student-athlete during her career.

Elsewhere on ESPEAY's night, volleyball cleaned up once again this year, taking home Team of the Year, Female Rookie of the Year (Brooke Moore), Game of the Year (the OVC Championship win against Murray State) in addition to Stucker earning Most Outstanding Female honors and Slay's turn as the Legends winner. For all their successes, Taylor Mott's squad also took home the second AP Governors Cup for their combination of athletic and academic achievement, community service and attendance at Austin Peay sporting events.

Football racked up on the men's side; in addition to Williams and Boynton, Will Healy was named Coach of the Year while Shaun Whittinghill won the Govs Spirit Award and the football team's win over Morehead State took on Moment of the Year honors.

On the academic side, women's tennis senior Brittney Covington earned both Female Scholar Athlete and the Perkins Freeman Academic Achievement Award. Ross Walker of the baseball team was named Male Scholar Athlete, while Nia Gibbs-Francis of the track and field team took home the Perkins Freeman Academic Achievement Scholarship, awarded to the rising senior with the highest GPA.

A complete list of nominees can be found below (winners in BOLD)

Female Athlete of the Year: Kristen Stucker (volleyball), Lidia Yanes Garcia (women's tennis), Savannah Amato (track and field)

Male Athlete of the Year: Michael Costanzo (baseball), Averyl Ugba (men's basketball), Jaison Williams (football)

Female Rookie of the Year: Brooke Moore (volleyball), Morgan Drawdy (women's soccer), Fabienne Schmidt (women's tennis)

Male Rookie of the Year: Chase Korte (men's golf), Jeremiah Oatsvall (football), Terry Taylor (men's basketball)

Team of the Year: Football, Softball, Volleyball

Coach of the Year: Matt Figger (men's basketball), Taylor Mott (volleyball), Will Healy (football)

Game of the Year: Men's Golf (win at Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate), Volleyball (OVC Championship match vs. Murray State), Football (comeback win at Eastern Kentucky)

Moment of the Year: Softball (Danielle Liermann's SportsCenter Top 10 catch), Football (victory over Morehead State), Men's Basketball (Dunn Center roof falling in during the Murray State game)

Female Breakout Athlete of the Year: Morgan Rackel (softball), Reagan Greene (women's golf), Brianne Alexander (women's basketball)

Male Breakout Athlete of the Year: Jaison Williams (football), Averyl Ugba (men's basketball), Michael Costanzo (baseball)

Govs Spirit Award: Shaun Whittinghill (football), Parker Phillips (baseball), Ashley Slay (volleyball)

Community Champion: Women's Golf (Manna Café)

Staff Member of the Year: Joni Johnson (athletic training)

Female Scholar Athlete: Brittney Covington (women's tennis)

Male Scholar Athlete: Ross Walker (baseball)

Perkins Freeman Academic Achievement Award: Brittney Covington (women's tennis)

Perkins Freeman Academic Achievement Scholarship: Nia Gibbs-Francis (women's track and field)

Team Academic Awards: Ross Walker (baseball), Falon Baker (women's basketball), Zach Glotta (men's basketball), Natalie Johnson (cheer), Sarah-Emily Woodward (women's cross country), Hezron Kiptoo (men's cross country), Taylor Vanders (dance), Ryan Rockensuess (football), Ashton Goodley (women's golf), Sam Lopez (men's golf), Nia Gibbs-Francis (track and field), McKenzie Dixon (women's soccer), Alexis Hill (softball), Brittney Covington (women's tennis), Aleh Drobysh (men's tennis), Kristen Stucker (volleyball)