April 28, 2008

ELIZABETH CITY, NC- Elizabeth City State basketball players Anthony Hilliard and Celeste Trahan were honored as the Male and Female Athletes of the Year at the annual Athletic Awards Banquet held Monday at the K. E. White Graduate Center.

This past season Anthony Hilliard was named an All-American for the first time in his career. The Fayetteville, NC native was named CIAA Player of the Year after leading the CIAA in both scoring and rebounding averaging 19.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. He was later tabbed as the Co-Player of the Year for the South Atlantic region after helping the Vikings to their first 20-win season since 1998-1999. He was also named the men's basketball MVP and received the R.L. Vaughan Basketball Award, both a repeat of last year.

This past season Anthony Hilliard was named an All-American for the first time in his career. The 2008 CIAA Player of the Year was honored by his fellow student-athletes as the Male Athlete of the Year at the Athletic Awards Banquet.

In her final year as a Lady Viking Celeste Trahan was named the Female Athlete of the Year for the third consecutive season. Last month she became the first woman from the CIAA in ten years to be named the Daktronics Division II National Player of the Year. With her jersey retired and as the most celebrated woman to don a Lady Viking uniform, Trahan leaves ECSU a six-time All-American, a two-time CIAA Player of the Year and the women's all-time leading scorer in points (2,151), rebounds (1,542) and blocked shots (225). Trahan topped the nation in rebounding three of the four seasons she played and is fourth all-time on the CIAA's career scoring list and second all-time in rebounding in the conference. She averaged 23.7 points and 15.9 rebounds for her career and will eternally hold the distinction as the first woman ever in NCAA Division II to notch over 2,000 points and 1,500 rebounds in a career.

A complete list of the 2008 honorees is as follows.

Male Athlete of the Year (Anthony Hilliard); Female Athlete of the Year (Celeste Trahan)

MVP Awards

Football; Offensive MVP- Brandon Fields; Defensive MVP Jeremy Carthen; Volleyball- Eva Johnson Men's Cross County- James Bell; Women's Cross Country- Yasmine Washington; Men's Basketball- Anthony Hilliard; Women's Basketball-Celeste Trahan; Baseball- Co-MVP- Styron Barfield, Nick Johnson Softball- Cekea Cox; Tennis- Co-MVP -Krystan Fleming, April Whitaker; Golf-Dustin Boothe; Bowling Co-MVP- Monique Francois and Affa-Shawntae McCray ; Cheerleading-Ashley Bowden; Women's Track- Lashate Morris; Men's Track Kendrell Harley

RL Vaughan Basketball Award (in honor of Coach Vaughan, sponsored by Gary and Evelyn Stubbins) (Female-Celeste Trahan; Male- Anthony Hilliard)

Thurlis and Brenda Little Award (top offensive lineman)- Joey Roberts

Thomas L. Caldwell Football Award (In honor of former AD and Football Coach)-Shawn Dickerson

Ralph and Joyce Cole Award (Education Major) with Highest GPA- Stephen Green

2008 Pepsi Awards (Sponsored by Pepsi)

Football- Greg Moore;Volleyball- Christina Hager;Bowling-Tiffany Johnson; Men's Cross Country- Wallace Sam;Women's Cross Country- Courtney Scott; Women's Basketball-April Whitaker;Men's Basketball- Olajuwon Johnson; Baseball- J.J. House;Softball- Maishiyah Brown;Women's Tennis- Morgan Ray Golf- William Westbrook;;Cheerleading- Kesa Matlock;Men's Track- Leon Thomas;Women's Track- Shante' Melvin