Chiricosta, Silva earn top award at BGSU athletics night (4-22-14)

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The student part of the student-athlete experience was on display Monday evening at the Stroh Center.
The Bowling Green State University athletics department recognized its top student-athletes at its annual
athletics honor night. A total of 252 Falcon athletes have a grade-point-average of 3.0 or better, with
31 having a 4.0.
‘‘We are not only athletes, we are good students as well,’’ said Nikki Chiricosta, a senior tennis
player, who will graduate next month with a degree in communications.
Chiricosta and fifth-year senior men’s soccer player Brandon Silva earned the top award — the Falcon
Medal of Honor which embodies athletic success, academic success, leadership and service to the
community.
‘‘I was really taken aback,’’ Chiricosta said. ‘‘I’m just in a class with so many talented athletes. To
earn the award for the highest achievement you can possibly get is nothing that you can prepare for.’’

Chiricosta is the third women’s tennis player to earn the award in the last four years. Her sister,
Christine, earned the award in 2011.
‘‘It was just an amazing feeling that I can be in the same class as my former teammates, my sister and
Maddy (Eccleston, the 2013 Medal of Honor winner), is just special,’’ she said.
Chiricosta said academics were stressed from the beginning by head coach Penny Dean.
‘‘Most of the other coaches I had talked to (in recruiting) were athletics first and academics second,’’
Chiricosta said. ‘‘That was just not the kind of mentality I wanted to have.”
Silva earned his undergraduate degree last year and is currently in the two-year masters program in
kinesiology.
‘‘This is a tremendous award. It’s something I have always admired. It’s a great honor,’’ said Silva, who
was the male junior scholar-athlete in 2013.
‘‘I was very surprised. I didn’t even know I was in consideration,’’ he continued. “I’m very proud, and
thankful.’’
Silva agreed with Chiricosta that it has been academics first.
‘‘It’s always been something that the university has pushed for; it’s always scholar first,’’ Silva said.

Silva is also an assistant coach with the Bowling Green Soccer Club and several members of his U-12 team
were in attendance.
‘‘I definitely wasn’t expecting this. It means a lot to me to have that support,’’ Silva said about
having members of his team there.
Senior football player Jerry ‘BooBoo’ Gates and redshirt junior Brooke Pleger, from the women’s track and
field team, were the athletes of the year.
Gates helped the Falcons win the Mid-American Conference championship and a berth in the Little Caesars
Pizza Bowl.
Pleger earned first-team All-American honors in the hammer throw, finishing seventh in the NCAA
championships last spring.
Cody Apthorpe, baseball, and Lindsey Butterfield, volleyball, were the senior scholar-athletes of the
year.
Chris Pohlman, football, and Deborah Hoekstra, women’s basketball, were the junior scholar-athletes of
the year.
The cross country team had the highest male team GPA at 3.61 while golf had the highest women’s GPA at
3.63.
Athletes from Wood County high schools on the academic honor roll are: Andrea Alt, Perrysburg, cross
country and track and field; Lauren Diehl, Perrysburg, golf; Ashley Dunn, Bowling Green, volleyball;
Kori Reiser, Elmwood, track and field; and Clay Rolf, Eastwood, football.
Alt is also a member of the 2014 class for Chi Alpha Sigma Ohio XI, the national college athlete honor
society.
Also honored were Elizabeth LeMaster, with the distinguished service award for her contributions and
exceptional services to the development of BGSU student-athletes; and Mike Wilcox who received the
distinguished alumnus award.
LeMaster is a scholarship and grant coordinator in financial aid at Bowling Green.
As a student, Wilcox, a former All-American lacrosse player, helped push forward the construction of the
Student Recreation Center, and he has served as a member of the BGSU Board of Trustees.
More than 400 student-athletes, parents, staff and community members were in attendance.

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