UTEP Announces ?Dinner With the Miners? Award Winners
EL PASO, TEXAS ? Basketball?s Julyan Stone and track & field?s Blessing Okagbare were recipients of the UTEP Male and Female Athlete of the Year Award, respectively, at the 37th annual ?Dinner With The Miners? banquet on Tuesday night at the Wyndham El Paso Airport.
Soccer?s Melissa Desilets received the Golden Miner Award, and Robert & Richard Forrest were co-recipients of the Silver Anniversary Award.
Stone cemented his status as one of the most versatile players in both UTEP and Conference USA history during the 2010-11 season. While leading the Miners to 25 wins and an NIT berth, Stone paced the team in assists (184) and rebounds (261) while ranking second in steals (52) and fourth in scoring (8.5 ppg). On January 15, Stone became Conference USA?s all-time assist leader, registering five dimes in a 66-43 rout of Rice. In the rematch versus the Owls on Feb. 5, Stone achieved a truly unique milestone. He led the team in all five stat categories ? points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals ? becoming only the sixth UTEP player to achieve the feat since 1981. Besides dishing out 714 assists in four seasons, Stone also ranks third in school history with 209 steals and seventh with 754 rebounds. He garnered second team All-Conference USA honors this season and was appointed to the C-USA All-Defensive Team for the second straight year. A standout in the classroom as well as on the court, Stone graduated in three and a half years with a degree in Organizational Communication.
One of the most decorated athletes in track and field history, Okagbare closed out a blockbuster UTEP career in style during the spring of 2010. She became the first UTEP female track and field athlete to claim four NCAA titles, winning the 60 meters and long jump indoors and the 100 meters and long jump outdoors. The Nigeria native set an NCAA championship meet record in the indoor long jump, rocketing to a mark of 22 feet, six and a half inches. Okagbare also anchored the Miners? 4×100 meter relay to the semifinals of the NCAA Outdoor Meet. A dominant force at the conference level as well, Okagbare captured six C-USA titles ? four indoors and two outdoors ? en route to being appointed Athlete of the Year twice. The 40 points scored by Okagbare indoors tied for the most-ever tallied by a Conference USA athlete. After posting an undefeated mark in all sprint and jump finals over the course of the season, Okagbare racked up the postseason honors including being tabbed the USTFCCCA Mountain Region Track Athlete of the Year and Field Athlete of the Year indoors, and Mountain Region Track Athlete of the Year outdoors.
Desilets helped the Miners to a 50-28-4 record over the course of her career, serving as a co-captain in 2010. She played every minute of every match for her last 35 games, a school record. Desilets ranks third in school history for minutes played (6,752), fifth for games started (77) and tied for sixth for games played (82). She was a key member of the UTEP defense over four seasons, helping the team fashion a 1.2 goals against average.
The Silver Anniversary Miner Award is presented to an individual who had a distinguished college athletic career, and has continued to contribute to UTEP and the El Paso community.
Dick Forrest was a three-year letterwinner (1955-57) for the Texas Western football team, and was recognized as the school?s first official All-American as a team captain in 1957. A defensive star, he was chosen to the All-Border Conference team in 1956 while leading the Miners to the lone undefeated league mark (6-0) in school history. TWC finished 9-2 that year and played in the Sun Bowl.
Like his twin brother Dick, Bob Forrest lettered from 1955-57 and helped the Miners to a 21-8-2 record during that span. He was an honorable mention All-Border Conference selection in 1956. The left-handed quarterback threw for a team-high 365 yards as a senior.
The team grade point average award went to women?s golf. The community service award was presented to the volleyball program.
In addition, team MVP awards were presented to Randy Culpepper (men?s basketball); Gloria Brown (women?s basketball); Alix Moncada (rifle); Roberto Ruiz (men?s golf); Teresa Nogues (women?s golf); Stephanie Figueroa (volleyball); Anoop Josan (soccer); Becky Smith & Chelsea Troupe (softball); Justice Chirchir (men?s indoor track and field); Dimitrios Fylladitakis (men?s outdoor track and field); Endurance Abinuwa (women?s indoor track and field); Okagbare (women?s outdoor track and field); Elkana Rotich (men?s cross country); Risper Kimaiyo (women?s cross country); Ximena Fuentes (tennis); Lamar Holmes & Kaleena Roche (cheerleading); Becky Smith (women?s strength & conditioning); Joe Banyard & Isaac Gordon (men?s strength and conditioning); and Emily Childs (athletic training).
The UTEP football team announced its team award winners as well. They were in the form of the Bob Stull Coaches Award (Drew Thomas), the Dr. Diana Natalicio award (Mike Scott), Pick Axe Award (Austin Contreras), Defensive Scout Team MVP (Deandre Little) and Offensive Scout Team MVP (Jordan Leslie).
?Dinner With The Miners? is made possible by the El Paso Downtown Lions Club. The event was inspired by past Lion president John Phelan. In 1979, a $10,000 memorial endowment was established. Due to the overwhelming community support of the event, the memorial fund was raised to $100,000 in 1983. A second endowment has already been established and continues to grow each year. These two endowments provide funds annually to offset the cost of student-athlete scholarships.
