2011-2012 Cavalier of the Year nominations

As I mentioned yesterday, Friday will mark four years of existence for this tiny little corner of the Internet.  Four years is a full span of college eligibility.  Four years of writing this blog means I've been doing it longer than I was actually a student.  (No, ya jerk, I didn't drop out - it takes less than four calendar years to finish a four-year degree is all.)

Every year, the traditional birthday celebration is really a celebration of the outstanding athletes wearing the Virginia uniform.  Ours is an athletic department that strives for excellence in every field (and court, pool, and so on.)  That's something to take pride in - that we don't have a school with an attitude that most of these sports exist for the sole purpose of fulfilling a requirement so we can keep playing football, like certain other schools.  Nor are we forced to slash and burn the budget and put an end to scholarship opportunities like certain other schools.  Every year, we highlight the achievements of the best of the best by nominating and then selecting the Cavalier of the Year.  These are this year's nominations, in alphabetical order:

Brittany Altomare - Womens' golf
Will Bates - Mens' soccer
Morgan Brian - Womens' soccer
Meredith Cavalier - Womens' swimming
Briggy Imbriglia - Mens' diving
Jarmere Jenkins - Mens' tennis
Chase Minnifield - Football
Josie Owen - Womens' lacrosse
Mike Scott - Mens' basketball
Steele Stanwick - Mens' lacrosse
Matt Snyder - Wrestling
Sidney Thorston - Rowing
Keith Werman - Baseball

Here's how this works.  The nominations are my choice.  There are 12 every year.  (EDIT: If Mike London can take a mulligan and add another deserving name to the list of team captains, then I get a mulligan too.  I've added another name to the list, and we have 13 noms this year.  It's a very deserving athlete.  I won't tell you who.  If you've been following really closely, maybe you can figure it out, and I don't care if you do, but just to keep things on the level I'll refrain from saying who the 13th name is.)  The winner is your choice.  Over the next couple weeks there'll be posts detailing the selections and what makes them a deserving candidate.  They'll be in random order and two at a time.  After that's done, I open up the voting for another couple weeks, and you choose the athlete.

Past winners are as follows: 2009 and 2011: Danny Hultzen, and 2010: Diego Restrepo.  There's no prize, unfortunately - no plaques or trophies or red-carpet ceremonies in New York.  Yet.  The only thing that happens is a silly photoshop of the winner.  Still, it's a fun exercise.  The first two profiles will drop on Thursday.  Let the debates begin.