ROARS celebrate student athletes
The award ceremony started with a red carpet arrival of athletes.
Published May 4, 2010
Missouri senior gymnast Sarah Shire won two awards at the second ROARS awards show Monday at Mizzou Arena. Shire was awarded the Female Athlete of the Year award and the Director of Athletics Leadership Award.
ROARS is an awards ceremony modeled after the Oscars and ESPYs to honor the student athletes and coaches of MU. It was created to recognize academic and athletic success of the 502 student athletes.
The event started with a red carpet arrival by the athletes from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Athletes from all 20 sports were interviewed as part of the entertainment in that first hour, including men's basketball sophomore forward Laurence Bowers.
Bowers spoke about playing with former Tigers Leo Lyons and DeMarre Carroll, who are both now playing professional basketball.
"Playing against those guys, you have no choice but to get better," Bowers said.
A video slideshow tribute to the graduating seniors and the 2010 We Are Mizzou iLife video were shown before the awards ceremony. The December 2009 graduates were honored at the beginning of the ceremony, with the 2010 graduates honored next.
Mike Kelly, the radio voice of the Tigers, started the ceremony by talking about the academic success of the Missouri sports program. MU had 296 student athletes make the Big 12 commissioner's honor roll this year, and 10 teams finished with a team GPA of 3.0 or greater.
In addition to Shire, track and field coach Rick McGuire also won two awards. McGuire received the Coach of the Year award and the first Legacy Award. McGuire will be retiring at the end of this season. The Legacy Award was a surprise award, not listed on the program, which McGuire won to a standing ovation.
"It's been a thrill of a lifetime to a part of the University of Missouri family," McGuire said.
Student athletes voted on all the awards except for Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards, which were voted on by fans as well. Men's basketball senior guard J.T. Tiller presented the Athlete of the Year awards. Graduated senior football wide receiver Danario Alexander won the Male Athlete of the Year award.
Several awards were given to athletes for academic performance and other off-field accomplishments. Baseball coach Tim Jamieson won the Coach's Academic Enhancement Award; his team has a 3.07 team GPA.
Jamieson demonstrated his concern for academics in his brief acceptance speech, thanking the fans and players and giving a reminder to his players.
"Make sure you go to class tomorrow, guys," Jamieson said.
The team community service award was given to the men's golf team, which has helped out several organizations in the past year. The Varsity M Student Athlete of the Year awards went to junior soccer player Kelsey Stokes and redshirt freshman baseball player Andreas Plackis.
Two awards were given for specific athletic performances in the past year. Redshirt junior football kicker Grant Ressel was awarded the Male Highlight of the Year award for his game-winning field goal against Kansas in November of last year.
Senior soccer player Kristin Andrighetto won the Female Highlight of the Year award for her performance in the Big 12 Tournament.
The Team Performance of the Year award went to the softball team for its performance against UCLA in regionals last May.