OKLAHOMA CITY – OCU has picked Chad Carman and Brittany Tibbs as the 2010-11 Jim Wade Award winners as its male and female student-athletes of the year.
The two were among the honorees in the sixth annual Jim Wade Student-Athlete Awards Banquet on April 3 at Abe Lemons Arena. OCU student-athletes were recognized for their achievements this season.
The Jim Wade Award winners are selected by the athletic department as those who best represent the Stars both on and off the field of competition and reflect the spirit of the award’s namesake, Gen. Jim Wade.
“The best part of my job is watching our outstanding student-athletes,” OCU athletic director Jim Abbott said. “I know Chad and Brittany both very well, they are absolutely deserving of this honor and terrific representatives of our athletic department. The exciting part for me regarding Chad, Brittany and all of our students is knowing how positively they will contribute to our community in the future.”
Carman, a junior from Midwest City, Okla., has helped the Stars capture the 2010 Sooner Athletic Conference baseball tournament championship, win two NAIA Championship Opening-Round Tournaments and make two NAIA World Series appearances. The preseason NAIA all-American catcher is hitting .306 with 10 doubles, two home runs and 20 RBIs this year for the NAIA’s No. 1-ranked team.
In his Stars career, Carman has compiled a .385 average with 40 doubles, 17 homers and 94 RBIs along with a .993 fielding percentage. He also took honorable-mention all-American and first-team all-SAC honors as a sophomore. Off the field, Carman volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters.
OCU’s baseball program owns the nation’s most wins since 1991 and 12 consecutive 50-win seasons.
Tibbs, a senior from Kansas City, Mo., has aided OCU to two Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament women’s soccer crowns, two appearances in the NAIA Championship Opening Round and the 2010 NAIA Championships. She posted 11 shutouts, 47 saves and a 0.88 goals-against average as a senior.
In her career, Tibbs has notched two all-American nods and four all-conference selections, 2010 SAC goalkeeper of the year, two NAIA scholar-athlete awards, two CoSIDA academic all-district picks and CoSIDA academic all-American. Tibbs recorded 37 shutouts and 250 saves as a Star. Tibbs was OCU’s nominee for the Leroy Walker Champion of Character Award, the NAIA’s sportsmanship award. She has been a contributor on OCU’s softball team this spring.
OCU’s women’s soccer program has racked up double-digit wins in all 17 years of the program’s existence and helped make OCU coach Brian Harvey the NAIA’s career leader in men’s and women’s soccer victories.
The OCU women’s soccer team has been recognized with the Team of Character Award. The Team of Character Award will be given to the Stars team that has best represented OCU through community service and academic achievement and embraced the five core values of the NAIA Champions of Character program – respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship.
OCU also inducted its 2011 class into its chapter of Chi Alpha Sigma, a national student-athlete academic honor society.
Wade is a former OCU baseball, basketball and football player and an OCU Athletic Hall of Famer. Wade was a general in the U.S. Air Force who was decorated for service in the Korean War. OCU’s baseball field, athletic office suites and soccer press box bear his name.
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