FOV Cavalier of the Year, #9/#10

From Old Virginia celebrates its birthday in a unique way: by recognizing one of Virginia's student-athletes as Cavalier of the Year. What are the criteria for the award? You decide: that's the beauty. I nominate the 12 athletes that I think have been most outstanding during the latest season of UVA athletics, and provide a short summary of their accomplishments. You choose the winner in a poll that goes up after all 12 have had their moment in the spotlight.

Over the next two weeks, two athletes at a time will be profiled, and you'll hear about what they've accomplished while representing Mr. Jefferson's University. The athletes are presented in a totally random order so as to hopefully not imply any endorsement one way or another. Athletes from all fields are considered; part of the point is that UVA is about excellence across the entire department and doesn't shortchange its so-called non-revenue sports simply because they don't make headlines. Last year's winner was Danny Hultzen; today's athletes are Sarah Tacke and Robby Andrews.

Sarah Tacke - Softball - Right field




Team accomplishments:

- First-ever selection to NCAA Tournament
- School-record 13 victories

Personal accomplishments:

- NFCA first-team All-Region
- Team BA and RBI leader
- ACC Player of the Week for 9-15 March
- Second-team all-ACC

Of the tremendous team accomplishments - conference and national championships, #1 rankings, Final Fours, and the like - achieved by UVA athletic squads this year, being a lowly regional third seed seems small in comparison. But by making the tournament for the first time ever, the softball team gave UVA a distinction: All 25 sports currently sponsored by UVA have now received bids to their respective NCAA national championships at some point in their history.

Helping to captain the team to their highest point of achievement ever is Sarah Tacke, the best hitter on the team by a long margin. Top fielder, too: Tacke had more assists and putouts with no errors than any ACC outfielder. Her batting and slugging averages were good enough for 4th and 3rd in the ACC, respectively. Tacke has been the team's leading batter for two years running and leading slugger for three; captaining the team to its first-ever NCAA tournament is a terrific cap to a terrific career and well worth a COTY nomination.

Robby Andrews - Men's track and field - Middle distance


Team accomplishments:

- 9th-place finish in Program of the Year Award

Personal accomplishments:

- Indoor 800 meter national champion
- Outdoor 800 meter runner-up
- Anchored UVA's first Penn Relays championship relay (4x800m) since 1943
- ACC's Indoor and Outdoor Performer and Freshman of the Year
- NCAA Outdoor All-American (800m)

It's impressive enough to be the ACC's undisputed top track athlete and sweep the ACC's indoor and outdoor awards for Performer and Freshman of the Year. So would a national championship be sufficient icing on the cake? The man he beat - by one-hundredth of a second - is no slowpoke: Oregon's Andrew Wheating, the second-place finisher, spent his summer of 2008 in Beijing, running in a little competition they hold every so often called the Olympics.

Andrews surprised the field there; after again topping Wheating to bring home UVA's Penn Relays (about as prestigious a track event as you'll ever see) 4x800 title, he won't be a surprise any more. Track & field coach Jason Vigilante is one of UVA's bright young coaches, and like swim coach Mark Bernardino, he's elevated UVA's track program to top-ten status in the country. Andrews is perhaps his brightest star and has UVA on (forgive plz) the right track.

it's a party and you're all invited

One week from today is a Very Special Day. No, it's not the day your propeller beanie finally comes in the mail. It's my birthday, wheee! Or to get all technically correct about it, it's the birthday of this blog, which dates its founding to June 10, 2008. That means FOV is turning two years old.

It certainly has been an interesting two years, full of triumph, tragedy, and heartbreak. UVA is the most successful ACC athletic department since expansion, and that is awesome, and nearly half those ACC titles have come in the last two years. On the other hand, the last two seasons have both seen major coach firings. Al Groh and Dave Leitao were the big-cheese coaches when this blog began; they've been replaced by Mike London and Tony Bennett. (This also necessitates a change of banners, which I'm working on. My limited graphic design skills are combining forces with my limited software to produce a bunch of stuff I hate. Getting there, though.)

Interesting times for the blog itself, too. I've been so idiotically wrong at times, and prophetic at others. (It counts even if that foresight was the result of a visit to Emo Myspace Land.) I've been quoted at Yahoo and won interesting awards, the latter of which I'd like to think is for being bloody damn right.

Anyway, just like last year, birthday party means it's time to recognize the athletes that are out at the forefront, wearing the colors and representing the school. The 2nd annual FOV Cavalier of the Year Award, which is basically the prestige equivalent of a Nobel Athletics Prize and therefore only Hoos are eligible, is hereby announced. Last year's winner was baseball's Danny Hultzen, a worthy awardee, and he returns as a nominee this year as well. The twelve nominees, in alphabetical order, are:

Robby Andrews (track)
Ken Clausen (lacrosse)
Drew Courtney/Michael Shabaz (tennis)
Chris Henrich (wrestling)
Danny Hultzen (baseball)
Brittany Kalkstein (lacrosse)
Lauren Perdue (swimming)
Diego Restrepo (soccer)
Scot Robison (swimming)
Paige Selenski (field hockey)
Sarah Tacke (softball)
Monica Wright (basketball)

Here's the format: over the next couple weeks, I'll be profiling these standout athletes for you with a summary of their accomplishments this season, two at a time and in a random order. Just about every one of them has earned some kind of hardware or individual recognition for their exploits. When I'm done with the summaries, a poll will go up on the right-hand side. I determine the nominees, but you the readers determine the winner. Hultzen was indeed the people's choice last year, and I must say you chose wisely. The power will again be in your hands; do not use it for evil.