Wuellner, Boyack honored for GPAs

~ The two Southeast athletes had near-perfect records in the classroom.

Jessi Wuellner enjoyed being a part of something special at Southeast Missouri State.

During her four-year run as a member of the women's soccer team, Wuellner helped the program post a cumulative 44-25-10 record with four winning seasons.

The senior from the Chicago suburb of Roselle, Ill., was a key player the entire time.

A defender, Wuellner started in 66 games, including 19 each of the past two years. She was an all-Ohio Valley Conference second-team selection in 2006, earning her second consecutive league recognition.

To cap it off, she was part of Southeast's first NCAA tournament team this past season. The Redhawks won the OVC tournament and played Illinois in the first round of the NCAA tournament, losing in a game played in St. Louis.

"Being a senior, it was really exciting that we made it this far. It was an awesome way to finish the season and go out with a bang," Wuellner said.

She had one more highlight on Tuesday night at Southeast's All Sports Year-End Celebration. In addition to being recognized onstage with her teammates as the OVC champions, she earned the Trombetta Award as the senior female athlete with the highest career grade point average.

Wuellner carries a 3.97 GPA while majoring in technical graphics.

Matt Boyack earned the men's equivalent, the Jewel Award. The tight end from Clermont, Fla., graduated in December with a 3.977 GPA. He majored in secondary education and was not at Tuesday night's banquet at the Show Me Center because he has a teaching job in Florida.

The night provided one more chance to recognize the Southeast women's basketball team, which won its second straight OVC tournament title to earn its second NCAA tourney berth. This time, it was coach John Ishee handing out the honors to his players, giving big hugs to Lachelle Lyles, Tarina Nixon and Rachel Blunt. He recognized the entire team with the Hoffmeister Award for inspiration, due to the adversity it overcame with a coaching change early in the season and a continuing NCAA investigation.

The soccer team also went on stage en masse, and goalie Lindsay Pickering earned the MVP honors. It also was announced she will share the softball team MVP honors for 2007.

Pickering and Wuellner played together four seasons on the back end for Southeast, and Wuellner enjoyed being able to lift the program to new heights.

"I definitely was part of the building process," Wuellner said. "We got a lot of good, hard-working players that came in ... and made it more competitive every year. As a program, we're getting bigger and have a lot more fans."

For Wuellner, maintaining the high GPA while competing did not come without sacrifice.

"It wasn't too bad," she said. "It did require me to do a lot of extra lab time since you can't just take your homework on the bus since you do need your computer. It just meant I had to stay after class or go early, just put in the extra time to keep my grades up.

"Once I realized it was achievable, I pushed myself more to stay at a high standard."

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AWARD WINNERS

All Sports Year-End Celebration

Special Awards

Jewel Award (senior male athlete with highest GPA) -- Matt Boyack, football

Trombetta Award (senior female athlete with highest GPA) -- Jessi Wuellner, women's soccer

National Student-Athlete Advisory Council -- Matt Carter, baseball

NCAA Foundation Leadership Winner -- Bryce Kristal, women's tennis

NCAA Woman of the Year nominee -- Lindsay Zeiler, women's track

Individual Sport Awards

Volleyball

Pursuit of Excellence award -- Molly Davis

Howard's MVP award -- Jessie Koeper

Football

Goddard Award (lineman with highest GPA) -- Francisco Perez

Vogelsang Award (most valuable players) -- Tim Holloman, back; Francisco Perez, lineman.

Ken Hargens Award (top defensive back) -- Kendall Magana

Hamby Award (highest GPA) -- Matt Boyack

Kenneth Knox Award (top defensive lineman) -- Edgar Jones

Golden Helmet Award (leading tackler) -- Adam Casper

KZIM/KSIM Award -- Edgar Jones

Women's soccer

Howard's MVP Award -- Lindsay Pickering

Women's KZIM/KSIM MVP -- Kevin McNab

Women's basketball

Susan Guidicy Award (most valuable player) -- Lachelle Lyles

Tammy Hoffmeister Award (most inspirational player) -- 2006-07 team

Hoover Award (exemplary skill in academics and athletics) -- Rachel Blunt

Howard's MVP -- Tarina Nixon

Gymnastics

Howard's MVP -- Jena Nguyen

Women's indoor/outdoor track and field

Howard's MVP (indoor track) -- Natasha Fortenberry

Howard's MVP (outdoor track) -- Lindsay Zeiler

Howard's MVP (indoor field) -- Ashley Brewer

Howard's MVP (outdoor field) -- Ashley Brewer

Men's indoor/outdoor track and field

KZIM/KSIM MVP (indoor track) -- Chris Williams

KZIM/KSIM MVP (outdoor track) -- Brandon Karcher

KZIM/KSIM MVP (indoor field) -- John Berry

KZIM/KSIM MVP (outdoor field) -- Brandon Colbert

Men's basketball

Scott Edgar Award (top newcomer) -- Rod Pearson

Cecil Tate Award (outstanding defensive player) -- David Johnson

C.P. Harris Award (outstanding player) -- Brandon Foust

KZIM/KSIM MVP Award -- Mike Rembert

Women's tennis

Howard's MVP (singles) -- Bryce Kristal

Howard's MVP (doubles) -- Bryce Kristal, Drew Kristal

Softball

Howard's MVP Award (2006) -- Stephanie Huffman

Howard's MVP Award (2007) -- Stephanie Mata, Lindsay Pickering

Baseball

Joe Uhls Award (2006) (highest slugging percentage) -- Andy Johnson

KZIM/KSIM MVP Award (2006) -- Levi Olson

Cheerleaders

Howard's MVP -- Stacy Cummings

KZIM/KSIM MVP -- Steve Jolly

Sundancers

Howard's MVP -- Leah Wellen

Trainers

Howard's MVP -- Katie Stemmler

KZIM/KSIM MVP -- Eric North