Voting amongst coaches and staff members has been completed as Danielle Freeman and Kevin Kaczmarski have been named the top student-athletes for the 2014-15 season at the University of Evansville.
Freeman will receive the Ida M. Stieler Award while Kaczmarski is the recipient of the William V. Slyker Award.
As just a sophomore, Danielle Freeman accomplished the rare feat of earning All-Conference honors in two very different sports. She earned a spot on the First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference Team in swimming while being named a Second Team All-MVC player in softball.
In the pool, Freeman holds five program records and won three MVC Championship titles in her first two seasons with the program. Highlighting her efforts was her participation in the 200 free relay team that not only set the UE mark, but also set the conference record at the 2014 championships.
Due to her standing with the swimming and diving team, Freeman did not begin her softball season until a few weeks into the season as she played in 35 of the Aces’ 55 games in 2015. That had no impact on her play as she led the team with 13 home runs on the season. That put her second in the conference, despite playing at least 15 games fewer than the majority of her competition. She also led the Purple Aces with 28 RBIs and a batting average of .339.
In her senior season with the UE baseball team, Kevin Kaczmarski made program history. His batting average of .465 set the program record and also paced the NCAA. Kaczmarski also led the nation with nine triples while ranking second in slugging percentage (.746) and on-base percentage (.543).
The 2015 MVC Player of the Year was recognized as the NCBWA National Hitter of the Week in April. He was recognized by the Valley in all four of his seasons, earning 2nd team honors in 2012 while being named a First Team All-MVC Player as a sophomore, junior and senior.
Kaczmarski was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and was also amongst the finalists for the Senior CLASS Award.
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