DENVER – University of Denver gymnast Maddie Karr was named the University of Denver's Female Athlete of the Year for the second-consecutive year and men's soccer's career goals record holder Andre Shinyashiki was named the Male Athlete of the Year to highlight the 84^th Annual Student-Athlete Awards Banquet on Monday night in Hamilton Gymnasium.
 
Karr helped lead the Pioneers to their fifth appearance at the NCAA National Championships and the program's first-ever appearance in the NCAA Team Final. Her sixth-place finish on bars at the national championships is the highest-ever by a DU gymnast. She added six All-American nods in 2019 including first-team on bars and second-team in the all-around at NCAA Nationals. The junior became Denver's first-ever Big 12 Conference champion in the all-around while successfully defending her conference title on vault and adding a win on bars. For the third consecutive season, she was named the Region2 Gymnast of the Year as well. Her 29 titles won brought her career haul to 81, which is now the third most in program history. Her final national rankings of No. 4 in the all-around and on vault are both new DU records. She scored four near-perfect 9.975s during the season, three times on vault and once on bars, and her season high of 39.725 in the all-around tied the fourth-best mark in school history.
 
A MAC Hermann Finalist, Senior CLASS Award Winner, United Soccer Coaches' First Team All-American and a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American, Shinyashiki broke Denver men's soccer's career record in points (117), goals (51) and game-winning goals (19), while tying the DU record in appearances with 83. Shinyashiki led a senior class that finished 61-11-10, which ranked third in the country over the last four years, while also taking the team to the College Cup for the first time in program history. In 2018 alone, Shinyashiki ranked first in the NCAA in points per game (2.86), total points (60), goals per game (1.33), total goals (28), game-winning goals (11) and shots on goal per game (2.86). Shinyashiki scored eight more goals than the next closes player in the country, tallying the first five hat tricks of his career, nine mutli-goal matches and a four-goal game in a 4-3 win at Omaha.
 
Freshman gymnast Alexandria Ruiz and hockey freshman Emilio Pettersen earned the top freshmen honors at the awards night Monday.
 
Ruiz made an immediate impact in her first season as a Pioneer gymnast. At the 2019 NCAA National Championships, she finished tied for 15^th overall in the all-around, which is now the sixth-best finish in DU history. Her performance in the NCAA National Semifinals garnered her second-team All-American honors in the all-around. In the NCAA Team Final, she had Denver's highest bars score with a 9.8875. She competed in every meet of the season including in the all-around 12 times and contributed 82% of her scores to the team total. Twice during the season, she earned a national ranking in the all-around, and she also held a national ranking on bars once. After winning her first career floor title and setting career highs in the all-around and on vault and floor on February 4, she was named the Big 12 Conference co-Newcomer of the Week.
 
Pettersen recorded six goals, 24 assists and a +10 rating through 40 games in his freshman season, helping the Pioneers to their 18th straight 20-win season and third Frozen Four in the last four years. The Calgary Flames' sixth-round pick finished second in team scoring and fourth among NCAA freshmen with 30 points, in addition to pacing the Pioneers with five power-play goals. In conference play, Pettersen notched three goals and 11 assists in 24 NCHC games. The Manglerud, Norway native also represented his country at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship - Division I Group A.
 
The Gold Vest Award - which is given annually to an outstanding Pioneers team for excellence in community service, academics, spirt, leadership and athletic performance - went to the women's lacrosse team, who edged out the men's soccer program, two squads that have traded the Gold Vest Award each of the last four years.
 
List of award-winners can be found below:
 
2018-19 University of Denver Athletics Awards:
Male Student-Athlete of the Year: Andre Shinyashiki, Men's Soccer
Female Student-Athlete of the Year: Maddie Karr, Gymnastics
Pioneer Sportsmen of the Year: Emilio Pettersen, Hockey
Pioneer Sportswoman of the Year: Alexandria Ruiz, Gymnastics
Comeback Player of Year: Haley Simental, Women's Basketball
Gold Vest Award: Women's Lacrosse
Scholar Athletes of the Year:
Male Freshman: Johnny Marrocco (Men's Lacrosse)
Female Freshman: Natalie Morton (Gymnastics), Brandi Vu (Swimming), Natalie Beckman (Women's Soccer)
Male Sophomore: Trent Panzera, Men's Swimming
Female Sophomore: Avery Stackle, Women's Swimming
Male Junior: Erich Fear, Men's Hockey
Female Junior: Sarah Lingen, Women's Swimming
Male Senior: Colton Jackson, Men's Lacrosse
Female Senior: Haley Simental, Women's Basketball
2018-19 Team MVP Awards:
Men's Basketball: Joe Rosga
Women's Basketball: Madison Nelson
Men's Golf: Cal McCoy
Women's Golf: Mary Weinstein
Women's Gymnastics: Maddie Karr
Men's Hockey: Co-MVPs Filip Larsson and Devin Cooley
Men's Lacrosse: Danny Logan
Women's Lacrosse: Katherine Fischer
Men's Alpine Skiing: Jett Seymour
Women's Alpine Skiing: Tuva Norbye
Men's Nordic Skiing: Eivind Kvaale
Women's Nordic Skiing: Jasmi Joensuu
Men's Soccer: Andre Shinyashiki
Women's Soccer: Cheyenne Shorts
Men's Swimming: Cameron Auchinachie
Women's Swimming: Josie Valette
Men's Tennis: Mattia Ros
Women's Tennis: Bianca Mok
Women's Volleyball: Rebecca Latham
 
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