Softball's Lisa Boone and track and field standout Huguens Jean were named UMBC's Outstanding Athletes at the annual Varsity Awards Ceremony.
Basketball's Jessie Brown, and soccer's Brian Rowland and lacrosse's Tim Flanagan shared the Outstanding Senior Athlete award. Track and field standout Sherita Baker and swimmer Karl Strauss were presented the Matt Skalsky Outstanding Scholar Athlete award.
Boone earned All Northeast Conference honors in softball in all four seasons and has become UMBC's all-time leader in doubles, triples, extra-base hits, games played and at-bats. The political science major is also second in career hits and runs scored and fourth in RBI's and stolen bases. Boone posted a UMBC and NEC record 29-game hitting streak in 2002 and finished the year 37th in the nation with a .396 batting mark.
Jean is not quite finished his amazing 2003 campaign. He earned a trip to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships by winning the high jump at the IC4A meet with a leap of 7'1.25", a UMBC and NEC record. He was named Outstanding Field Athlete at both the NEC indoor and outdoor championships, and won the high jump at the Penn Relays. The computer engineering major is also a Verizon District II Academic All American.
Brown became the all-time assists leader in UMBC women's basketball history, with 509 career handouts. She also tallied 1,124 points, seventh-most in school history, and she also established a school record for minutes played. The point guard and psychology major is currently second with 125 three-point goals.
Rowland and Flanagan, both goalkeepers, each had tremendous impacts on their teams' success. Rowland set single season (11) and career (25) records for shutouts and earned All America honors from College Soccer News. The economics major was the ninth player selected in the Major Indoor Soccer League draft, as he was tabbed by the Harrisburg Heat.
Flanagan was a National Player of the Week as a junior and earned ECAC Defensive Player of the Week honors this year. His save percentage hovered around the 60 percent plateau this year and he amassed 318 saves, seventh on UMBC's all-time list, in just two seasons. The information systems major's inspired play led UMBC to wins over four teams who competed in the NCAA Lacrosse Championship Tournament.
Baker, a native of Hampton, Virginia, was the NEC Scholar Athlete for the sport of Indoor Track and Field this winter after she captured the 800 meters at the league's indoor championships. The English major, who maintains a 3.83 grade point average, also struck NEC gold in the 4 x 800 meters both indoors and outdoors.
Strauss, bound for the University of Toledo Law School in the fall, captured the 200 breaststroke in five dual meets this season and was part of a 400 medley relay team which struck gold at the NEC Championship meet. Strauss, who maintains a 3.85 GPA, was recently awarded the political science department's Outstanding Scholar Leader Award.
