THIBODAUX, La.  –  Over 200 Colonel student-athletes were honored on Wednesday evening, as the Nicholls Athletics Department held the 14th Annual Athletics Awards Banquet at the Nicholls State University Cotillion Ballroom.

Participants and letterwinners received gifts from their respective head coaches, while selected players from each sport received special team awards. The athletics department also handed out seven awards to certain student-athletes who were nominated by their head coach and voted upon by an awards committee.

The first award presented on the night was the Norman Swanner Community Service Award, which is given to a senior who has a minimum grade point average of a 2.5 and was nominated by his/her coach for his significant involvement in the community. The 2013 recipient of this award was senior baseball player, Cody Dufrene. Dufrene is an active member in the Thibodaux Community as well as the campus community. As a senior and team captain on the baseball team, he has volunteered in the community by assisting with town clean-up, along with the set up and clean-up for Thibodeauxville. He has helped raise money for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and frequently visits the cancer patients at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center. He has also volunteered his time to instruct in the Dixie Youth Clinics and serve as an umpire for the Dixie Youth Baseball Program. In addition to his community involvement, he serves on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

A forward on the Colonel soccer team, Spencer Valdespino was presented the Freshman Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award. Valdespino completed an outstanding rookie season by breaking four school records, including most shots in a season and most shots on goal in a season. She led the Southland Conference in shots and shot per game and finished fourth in total assists, earning her Honorable Mention All-Southland Conference and First Team All-Louisiana for this past soccer season.

The Freshman Male Student-Athlete of the Year Award was given to Grant Borne. The southpaw has become a staple on the Colonels' pitching staff. He currently sports a spotless 3-0 record in six starts, with a miniscule 3.13 earned run average. In 37 innings of work, he has allowed only 13 earned runs, with 43 strikeouts, and has limited opposing batters to a .236 average.

Receiving the Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award was senior basketball player, Alisha Allen. Allen wrapped up a remarkable career this basketball season by helping the Colonels to another record breaking season. She ended her career as the school's all-time leader in blocked shots, the second all-time leading scorer and finished fourth on the career rebounding list. During her senior campaign, Allen reached double figures in scoring in 28 of 30 games. Five times this season, she amassed over 20 points in a game, to go along with four double-doubles. Allen concluded the season by being ranked in the top 10 in the Southland Conference in blocked shots, scoring and field goal percentage. For her tremendous success, she was selected Second Team All-Southland Conference and Second Team All-Louisiana.

Senior Fred Hunter was presented the Male Student-Athlete of the Year Award. Hunter recently concluded a stellar career and a phenomenal senior year after suffering a potential career ending injury during the 2011-2012 basketball season. The guard battled back to finish in the top 10 in the Southland Conference in an unbelievable ten separate categories, earning him first team all-conference honors. He is certainly leaving his mark in the Nicholls record books, finishing on the top 10 career lists in seven different categories, including second all-time in games started and third all-time in offensive rebounds. His 19.9 points per game average placed him 15th in the country. For this, as well as his many other accomplishments, he was named First Team All-Louisiana for the 2012-2013 basketball season.

The next two awards handed out were the Colonel Pride Awards, which are given to a male and female student-athlete that best exemplifies pride in their academics, team, teammate, community and in Nicholls State University. Senior track athlete Aja Scott received the Louise “Do” Bonin Female Colonel Pride Award, while senior football player Gerald Gruenig was handed the Jim Hunter Male Colonel Pride Award.

Scott serves as the Vice President for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and was an active voice for athletics in the passing of the recent campus-wide athletic referendum. She can be seen sporting the red and gray at numerous athletic events, both on and off campus, including driving to Beaumont, Texas to support the Colonels in the 2012 Southland Conference Cross Country Championships. One of the top javelin throwers in the conference, Scott is also involved in the Nicholls Chess Club, and currently serves as captain of the Colonel Track and Field Team, while sporting a 3.49 grade point average.

The only senior starter on the offensive line during the 2012 football season, Gruenig was regarded by his teammates and coaches as a leader on the field, in the film room and in the weight room. During his spare time, he hosts a weekly radio show on Nicholls Radio, all the while maintaining a 3.32 GPA as a mass communications major. Most impressive; however, is that he has been asked by the athletic director to speak at both at the beginning of the year student-athlete meeting and the Athletic Academic Gala last month. This is the second consecutive year that Gruenig has been named the recipient of the Jim Hunter Colonel Pride Award.

For their outstanding achievements in the classroom, junior football player Jordan Hanberry and the Colonel women's tennis team were honored with the final three awards. Hanberry, a member of the Phi Eta Sigma and Alpha Lambda Delta National Honor Societies, received the Student-Athlete Award for Academic Excellence for the second straight year after maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average in biology. The women's tennis squad not only earned the President's Award for Academic Improvement, which is awarded to the team with the most improved GPA, but captured the President's Award for Academic Excellence with a 3.488 team GPA.