COMPLETE LIST OF AWARD WINNERS

WASHINGTON, DC --- The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics honored its student-athletes, coaches and programs at its annual year-end banquet – the 2^nd annual Bison Blue Carpet Awards – on Wednesday evening at the Armour J. Blackburn University Center Ballroom.

The event proved to be an entertaining and engaging celebration of Howard Athletics' 2014-15 highlights for the over 400 members of the department and University community in attendance.

Interim Director of Athletics Shelley Davis opened the banquet by welcoming all in attendance and recognizing some of the department's accomplishments this year. She also took a moment to remember former Bison football player Terrence Tusan, who passed away in late December.

The format of the team awards presentation took on a more intimate feel than in years past, as several members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) interviewed each program's head coach about their year and its standout moments before announcing program honors. The presentations were conducted by seniors Alexis Skinner (women's volleyball) & Stewart Hartman (football), sophomore Matthew Brown (men's cross country / track & field) and freshman I-sis Wilson (women's soccer).

The winners of the top Department Awards were as follows:

- Women's Tennis repeated as recipients of the Highest Team GPA and were matched the Women's Cross Country and Track & Field program. Each team posted an overall GPA of 3.37.

- Women's lacrosse sophomore Jasmine Wilson earned the Highest Female Athlete GPA with a perfect 4.0.

- Women's Soccer head coach Brent Leiba was named Coach of the Year after winning a program-record 13 games and claiming both the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) regular season and tournament titles in the Lady Bison's first year in the league.

- The Male and Female Rookies of the Year were Kyle Celestine of men's soccer and Khaila Donaldson of women's volleyball. Celestine was named a Second Team All-Sun Belt selection by College Sports Madness and earned a pair of Player of the Week awards during the season. Donaldson also earned several conference Player of the Week honors from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), in addition to being named to the All-MEAC Second Team and All-Tournament teams.

- Seniors Greg McGhee and Kyra Dickinson were named the Male and Female Athletes of the Year. McGhee was named MEAC Co-Offensive Player of the Year and a First Team All-Conference selection. He set the all-time school and conference records for career total offense, surpassing the 10,000 yard mark in the process. Dickinson earned SWAC Goalkeeper of the Year and All-SWAC Second Team honors for the regular season and tournament champions. She tied for the conference lead in shutouts (7) and finished in the top five in four other categories.

- Former Director of Facilities Ike Darden was given an Appreciation of Service award for his dedication to Athletics and the University community for over four decades. Mr. Darden announced his retirement from the University on May 1.

- Senior swimmer Mohamed Bouzaghrane proved to be the night's biggest winner. Besides earning the men's swimming MVP and Highest GPA awards, the Morocco native earned his fourth straight Highest Male GPA honor and the newly created Athletic Director's award. Bouzaghrane earned the Athletic Director's award because of his overall success as a true Howard student-athlete and his recent news for post-graduation: the Civil Engineering major was accepted into the top 10 graduate programs in the nation with full rides to each.