All-Time Golden Wings Award Winners
By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech Athletics continued its recognition of the best and brightest of its more than 300 student-athletes by releasing three more winners of its 2021 Golden Wings Awards.
On Thursday, two of the longest-standing awards presented by Tech Athletics were announced, the Female Athlete and Male Athlete of the Year honors, both of which were established in 1994.
Following a record-breaking showing during the 2020-21 soccer campaign, Isabelle Austin was named Female Athlete of the Year. For the sixth time in history, a pair of Golden Eagles shared the Male Athlete of the Year honor, with the tennis team's Carlos Vicente and men's basketball's Jr. Clay representing the best of the year for Tech.
Austin became the third member of the soccer team to win Female Athlete of the Year, joining Ellie Iaciofano and Kari Naerdemann. The Sylvania, Ohio native claimed the inaugural Ohio Valley Conference Goalkeeper of the Year award during the spring season (after COVID-19 forced fall sport seasons to the spring) and also earned a spot on the All-OVC First Team.
She put together a banner spring season, pacing OVC goalkeepers in every major statistical category. The 5-foot-8 senior yielded only seven goals in nearly 940 minutes between the pipes, led the league in goals-against average (0.67) and save percentage (.891), and finished tied for tops in the OVC in saves (57).
Austin's impressive save percentage marked the highest both in program and OVC history, surpassing Kari Naerdemann's .890 mark in 2017, while her goals-against average represented the third-lowest on the school's single-season list.
Vicente was the fourth men's tennis member to win Male Athlete of the Year honors, joining an elite list including Syrym Abdukhalikov, Alex Arovin, and current Tech assistant coach, Eduardo Mena, who won the honor twice.
His second career All-OVC First Team selection came on the heels of a 4-1 singles conference mark, all out of the No. 1 spot in Tech's lineup. Overall, the 5-foot-8 sophomore out of Valencia, Spain led Tech with 15 appearances in the top singles position, posting a 9-6 record in those clashes.
Vicente ended the regular season on a five-match winning streak, and in doubles play, went 3-0 in OVC action. He won eight of his final 10 dual match-ups while helping Tech claim its eighth OVC crown in the past 10 years.
Clay became the fourth different member of the men's basketball team to be named Male Athlete of the Year, joining a club that includes Greg Bibb, two-time winner Willie Jenkins, and Zac Swansey. He also marked the first men's hoopster to win the honor since 2013.
For the third straight year, the Chattanooga native was named to the All-OVC Second Team, becoming just the fifth Tech player to earn First or Second Team recognition at least three times. He was also selected to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 18 Second Team.
The junior led the purple and gold with 17.3 points per game, 34.3 minutes per game and 43 steals. He averaged 2.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists while shooting 43.4 percent from the floor, 34.7 percent from distance and 72.3 percent from the charity stripe. Clay ranked second in the OVC in scoring, third in 3-point field goals per game, fifth in steals per game and 10th in assists per game.
The Golden Wings Awards, which enters its fifth year, is an end-of-the-year award ceremony for the Tennessee Tech University student-athletes to honor and celebrate their academic and athletic accomplishments over the past complete seasons.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent cancellation of the remainder of campus activities for the 2019-20 academic year, the annual awards show was also canceled. The choice was made to still honor the student-athletes for their accomplishments, however, as each competitive season drawn from to determine the honors had been completed.
The timeframe of the awards period is the current season (2019-20 in this instance) except for sports that compete in the spring, including baseball, softball, outdoor track & field, men's golf, women's golf and tennis. With those sports typically competing with a large portion of their seasons still left at the time of the awards show, the previous campaigns (2018-19 in this instance) are recognized. The Man and Woman of the Year awards encompass the 2019-20 period for all sports.
Prior to the 2019 Golden Wings Awards, men's golf, women's golf and tennis were included from their current season, but due to scheduling conflicts and to allow a more complete campaign from which to gather nominees, the three sports were added to the rest of the spring sports in using its previous season for consideration.
Prior to the first Golden Wings Awards show, Tennessee Tech Athletics annually presented four awards to deserving student-athletes, including Male Athlete of the Year, Female Athlete of the Year, Man of the Year and Woman of the Year. The first honor established, for the 1990-91 academic year, was the Woman of the Year Award, coinciding with the first NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Two years later, in 1992-93, Tech established its Man of the Year Award. Both the Male Athlete of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year honors were added for the 1993-94 academic year. The four honors were officially adopted into the Golden Wings Awards, including criteria, for the 2016-17 academic year and all previous winners can also be found in the all-time list below.
