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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics recognized 21 award winners at the annual V Awards ceremony on Sunday at the UTRGV Performing Arts Center.
 
Those winning awards include:
Mr. V – Koby Jansen (men's tennis)
Ms. V – Frida Farstad-Eriksson (women's soccer)
Student-Athlete of the Year (Male) – Paul May (track & field)
Student-Athlete of the Year (Female) – Idatonye Cheetham-West (track & field)
Rookie of the Year (Male) – Abraham Chirchir (track & field)
Rookie of the Year (Female) – Valeria Tapia (women's basketball)
Newcomer of the Year (Male) – Elijah Alexander (baseball)
Newcomer of the Year (Female) – Gysell Zayas (volleyball)
Breakout Athlete of the Year (Male) – Anthony Magallon (track & field)
Breakout Athlete of the Year (Female) – Dubravka Vukoja (volleyball)
Comeback Player of the Year – Quynne Huggins (women's basketball)
Team Performances of the Year – Women's tennis winning the WAC Championship by going undefeated in WAC play and men's golf finishing in the top five of each of its last six tournaments, including a pair of victories
Legacy Award (Male) – Nick Dixon (men's basketball)
Legacy Award (Female) – Bojana Mitrovic (volleyball)
Lou Hassel Award – Esa Aalto (men's soccer), psychology major
Anheuser Busch/Ann LaMantia Award – Emily Azubell (women's basketball), multidiscplinary major (math, art and history)
AD Cup (Academic Team of the Year) – Men's Tennis
AD Community Service Cup – Mike Hoffman (men's basketball) and Laura Van Tilburg (women's basketball)
Student Trainer of the Year – Melissa Garza (volleyball and track & field)
 
The academic team of the year is the team with the highest grade point average. The Mr. and Ms. V awards were awarded to the most spirited student-athletes. The newcomers of the year awards are given to first year student-athletes that are not freshmen. The legacy awards are given to seniors who have made a significant impact during their careers at UTRGV. The Lou Hassel and Ann LaMantia awards are given to the senior student-athletes with the highest GPAs who competed during the current academic year.
 
"We are proud of all of our student-athletes for their accomplishments this season. Their hard work and dedication as both students and athletes is apparent, and while we've only honored a select group tonight, they are all deserving of recognition," UTRGV Director of Athletics Chris Kingsaid.
 
Jansen finished his senior season with a 15-7 record in singles play while going 10-4 in the spring. He finished his career with 58 singles victories and 44 doubles victories. Jansen is an All-Western Athletic Conference (WAC) honoree in singles and doubles and is a three-time WAC All-Tournament honoree. In the classroom, Jansen is a seven-time AD Honor Roll recipient, a two-time Academic All-WAC honoree, and a 2017 ITA Scholar Athlete. 
 
Farstad-Eriksson was a key part of UTRGVs midfield this past season, scoring a goal in a win over New Mexico State and registering an assist against Chicago State. She finished her career tied for first in program history in matches played (78) and penalty kick attempts (2). She also ranks second in starts (70) and minutes played (6,166), tied for fourth in assists (7), seventh in points (15) and eighth in goals (4). Farstad-Eriksson is a seven-time AD Honor Roll recipient and a four-time Academic All-WAC honoree.
 
May was crowned WAC Champion in the shot put at the WAC Indoor Championships. He has posted a combined 23 top-10 finishes in the indoor and outdoor season while setting and resetting the program records in both the indoor and outdoor shot put with marks of 17.45 meters and 17.21 meters. 
 
Cheetham-West was crowned WAC Champion in the long jump at the WAC Indoor Championships after a program record leap of 6.03 meters. She also earned the High Point Award after garnering 24 total points at the championships. Cheetham-West has combined for 15 top-10 finishes throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons and broke three other program records in the indoor 60-meter dash with a time of 7.54 seconds, the indoor 200-meter dash with a time of 24.53 seconds, and the outdoor 200-meter dash with a time of 23.86 seconds.
 
Chirchir recorded three wins in his first season with the program after winning the 3,000-meter run at the Texas Tech Open in his very first race of his career. He was also crowned WAC Champion in the 3,000 and 5,000-meter races at the WAC Indoor Track & Field Championships while also etching his name in the program's history books after breaking the program record in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 14:10.32, ranking second all-time in the 3,000-meter race with a time of 8:24.17, and ranking second all-time in the 10,000-meter race with a time of 29:36.39.
 
Tapia averaged 3.7 points and 3.0 assists in 26 games (10 starts) this past season, leading UTRGV in scoring once and assists 11 times. She reached double-figures in scoring three times. Tapia scored a career-high 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting at New Mexico State on March 3. She earned Feast of Sharing Tournament MVP honors after averaging 10.5 points and 7.5 assists per game, including 14 points and a career-high 12 assists, five rebounds and two steals against Prairie View A&M on Nov. 26.
 
Alexander came to UTRGV after playing one season at Ventura College, and after coming off the bench in the season opener to come up with a walk-off single in his only at-bat of the game, has started 43 of the ensuing 47 games in left field, hitting .293 with a team-high 13 doubles, a team-high tying two triples, three home runs, 18 RBI and 24 runs scored.

After playing two seasons at Tyler Junior College, Zayas took over as UTRGV's starting libero, averaging 4.39 digs per set, the ninth-highest single season total in NCAA Division I program history, while posting 483 digs, the seventh-highest total. She led UTRGV in digs 25 times, reaching double-figures 24 times, including seven matches of 20+ digs. Zayas recorded a career-high 38 digs, the fifth-highest single-season match total in NCAA Division I program history, against Grand Canyon on March 12.
 
Magallon was crowned the WAC Champion in the high jump after clearing a height of 2.06 meters, which ranks him third in program history, while also has added 12 other top-10 finishes combined in the indoor and outdoor seasons. Magallon also ranks third in program history in the outdoor high jump after clearing a height of 2.10 meters, which currently ranks first in the WAC this season.
 
Vukoja won a three-person competition to become UTRGV's starting setter, increasing her assists per set average to 10.08, the third-highest single season total in NCAA Division I program history, from 6.02 the previous year. She dished out a total of 937 assists, the ninth-highest single-season total in NCAA Division I program history. Vukoja led UTRGV in assists 23 times and digs twice. She reached double-figures in assists 23 times, including 21 matches of 20+ assists, 17 matches of 30+ assists, 10 matches of 40+ assists, four matches of 50+ assists, and one of 60 assists. Vukoja also reached double-figures in digs eight times en route to six double-doubles. She dished out career-high 60 assists, including 21 in the first set, in a WAC Tournament Semifinals victory over Utah Valley on Nov. 17.
 
Huggins overcame a summer battle with thyroid cancer, a disease she is still being treated for, to average a team-best 10.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. An All-WAC Newcomer honoree, Huggins led UTRGV in scoring 10 times, rebounding eight times and assists once. She reached double-figures in scoring 18 times, including three games of 20 or more points. She posted first-career double-double with 21 points and a career-high 11 rebounds against Seattle U on Feb. 15.
 
The women's tennis team won the department's first-ever WAC Regular Season Championship after finishing undefeated in WAC play. Women's tennis also finished an undefeated 10-0 at home this season, which marks the most home wins in a season in program history. 
 
The men's golf team posted one of its best spring seasons in program history where they posted six straight top-five finishes, including wins at the Atchafalaya Intercollegiate and the Big Texan Invitational. It was just the second time in Division I program history that the team won two tournaments in the spring, with the last time coming in 2010. 

A two-time All-WAC First Team honoree, Dixon played at UTRGV for parts of three seasons, including two games in 2015-16 before redshirting the season. In just 67 games, Dixon scored 1,282 points, tying 2018 Athletics Hall of Famer Mire Chatman (2000-02) for 10^thplace in program history. Dixon scored 603 points as a junior and 670 points, the seventh-highest single-season total in program history, as a senior, becoming one of only two players in program history to score 600 or more points in a season twice. Dixon hit a program record 222 free throws as a senior while leading the team in scoring 25 times, rebounding six times and assists five times. He reached double-figures in scoring 33 times, including 18 games of 20 or more points and two games of 30 or more points. For his efforts, Dixon was a 2017-18 National Associate of Basketball Coaches All-District 6 Second Team honoree. Dixon also scored 1,622 points in two seasons at Morton College, making him the first player to score 1,000 or more points at both the junior college and NCAA Division I levels since Cleanthony Early, who did so at Wichita State (2012-14) and Sullivan College (2010-12) before going on to play for the New York Knicks in the NBA and the nearby Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G-League.
 
A three-time All-WAC First Team honoree and two-year co-captain, Mitrovic finished her three-year career ranked fifth in NCAA Division I program history in kills (1,159) and 10^thin blocks (217) and block assists (199).As a sophomore in 2015, Mitrovic averaged an NCAA Division I program record 4.30 kills and 12.37 attacks while tying what was then the single-season kills mark with 460 and breaking the single-season attacks record with 1,324. She was the only player in the WAC that ranked in the top 10 both kills and digs whether as an overall number of in WAC play. Mitrovic went on to record the third-highest block assists mark (95) and fourth-highest blocks per set (0.94) and total blocks (102) marks in NCAA Divison I program history as a junior while leading UTRGV to the WAC Tournament Championship and its first NCAA Tournament appearance. As a senior, Mitrovic led UTRGV in kills eight times, digs four times and blocks three times. She reached double-figures in kills 20 times and digs 17 times en route to 14 double-doubles. Mitrovic started her career with the NAIA program at UT Brownsville in 2014, helping the team to a spot in the NAIA Championship match. She recorded 372 kills and 3.02 kills per set, each of which ranked eighth in a single-season in program history. She also hit .259, the seventh-highest career total in program history, while earning Red River Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and First Team honors.
 
Garza has primarily worked with the volleyball team while helping out with track & field and other sports as well. She consistently brings a great work ethic and positivity to the athletic training room. Garza was quickly able to create strong relationships with her student-athletes, coaches, and athletic training staff, which helped her excel in the program and will help her in her future endeavors. After graduation, she plans to sit for her Texas state licensing exam and pursue a master's in athletic training.

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