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The USU Eastern athletic department held its annual end-of-the-year banquet on Wednesday evening as they honored the 165 student-athletes on campus and inducted two new members into the USU Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame.
Eric Madsen and Emma Ricks were both introduced by director of athletics Jess Brinkerhoff as the newest members of the Hall of Fame and honored both for their success and contributions to Eagle athletics.
Madsen played baseball for then CEU (College of Eastern Utah) in the early 90s under longtime head coach Dave Paur. After finishing his playing career with Southern Utah University, he earned his first college job as an assistant to Coach Dave Paur at CEU and would ultimately take over for Paur as interim head coach after Paur took the helm as athletic director.
Madsen earned head coach that same year and in 1997, the team set the high win total with 33, only to break it the following year with a new record of 37 wins, finishing second in the conference behind Dixie college by a half a game. In his time at CEU, Madsen found a remarkable amount of success on the field and he played a critical role in the upgrade and improvement of the facilities during his time at CEU. Madsen would spend the next 18 years at Utah Valley University as he built that program into a D1 contender.
Emma Ricks helped the USU Eastern women’s volleyball team earn their first Top 10 ranking followed by an appearance at the NJCAA National Tournament for the first time in school history in spring of 2021. The honors kept coming for Ricks in spring of 2021 as she earned SWAC Defensive Player of the Year, 1st Team All-Region, and USU Eastern Female Athlete of the Year.
In her final semester at USU Eastern in the fall of 2021, Ricks once again dominated the backrow defensively, finishing fifth place nationally with 6.22 digs per set, which helped earn her consecutive SWAC Defensive Player of the Year Award, 1st Team All-Region, and the program’s first National Defensive Player of the Week award, which she was presented twice during that season.
Ricks received an impressive 11 Scenic West Defensive Player of the Week Awards throughout her three years and capped her amazing career at USU Eastern with the coveted All-American Award presented by the NJCAA.
It was a night to honor those student-athletes that excelled in the classroom and in their respective sports throughout the year. The awards given were as follows:
ACADEMIC ATHLETE OF THE YEAR BY SPORT
Baseball: Troy Connell
Cheer: Nevaeh Del Rio
Dance: Alisa Hernandez
Drumline: Mattie Chiara
Men’s Basketball: Dyson Lighthall
Men’s Soccer: Tyell Gustavson
Softball: Cambrie Jensen
Volleyball: Casidy Fried
Women’s Basketball: Hailey Meek
Women’s Soccer: Carlie Jenkins
ACADEMIC ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Female Academic Athlete of the Year: Brooklyn Palmer – Women’s Basketball
Male Academic Athlete of the Year : Kaden Davis – Baseball
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR BY SPORT
Drumline: Branden Scovill
Women’s Basketball: Brooklyn Palmer
Men’s Basketball: Kevin Bethel
Women’s Soccer: Sailor Jensen
Men’s Soccer: Casey Stracher
Cheer: Hailey Mortensen
Volleyball: Paige Shumway
Baseball: Ky Decker
Softball: Paige Shumway
Dance: Brooklyn Ward
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Female Athlete of the Year: Brooklyn Palmer – Women’s Basketball
Male Athlete of the Year: Kevin Bethel – Men’s Basketball
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- Photos by Jeff Barrett
