FRIDAY, April 20, 2001
 
The Parthenon

 

And the Marco goes to...

The Parthenon

It came down to a battle of the Byrons, but men's soccer forward Byron Carmichael won the top award in the First Annual Parthenon Marco Awards.

The Lumberton, N.J., native took 35 percent of the vote to best football team quarterback Byron Leftwich for Athlete of the Year.

Carmichael was the Mid-American Conference player of the year, breaking Marshall's single-season scoring record with 38 points. His performance helped the soccer team to a 14-5-1 re-cord, losing to Kentucky in the MAC semi-finals.

Carmichael was also nominated for Male Athlete of the Year, but 60 percent of the voters bestowed the title on baseball team shortstop Jason Ricceri. Carmichael came in second with 26 percent.

Ricceri boasted a .339 batting average as of April 10, to go along with nine home runs and 38 RBIs.

The baseball team is currently 19-16, in second place in the MAC.

Female Athlete of the Year went to freshman softball pitcher/first baseman Sierra Davenport, with 53 percent of the vote. Women's soccer midfielder Amanda McMahon came in second with 41 percent.

Davenport racked up a 10-8 record with a 2.15 ERA in her first season. She was also batting .252 as of the April 10 deadline. Her work on the mound and at the plate has helped the softball team to 27-21 record. Their 9-7 MAC record is good enough for fourth in the conference's eastern division.

McMahon turned the tables on Davenport in the Newcomer of the Year category. The Freshman All-American edged her softball counterpart 48 to 44 percent.

McMahon was Marshall's first All-American since the football team's Randy Moss, now with the NFL's Minnesota Vikings.

She was an integral part of the team's 8-10-1 record, the best in the program's three years of existence, setting records for points (32), goals (14) and shots (80).

A men's soccer player took the top spot in the Senior of the Year category as well.

Goalkeeper Taly Goode took 56 percent of the vote. His next closest competitor was men's basketball guard Travis Young.

Goode set school records with 14 victories and 7.5 shutouts. He was a Second Team All-MAC selection and was drafted by two teams in two different professional soccer leagues, the Atlanta Silverbacks of the A-League and the Detroit Rockers of the NPSL.

The Parthenon staff would like to congratulate all the winners and nominees, as well as all of Marshall's student athletes.

 
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