Gruber And Miles Highlight Senior & Scholar Athlete Banquet

Men's basketball senior Michael Lee was the Senior Student-Athlete Speaker. Here he is greeted by Chancellor Bob Hemenway and Athletics Director Lew Perkins after delivering his speech.

May 12, 2005

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- A year of accomplishment on and off the field for nearly 300 University of Kansas student-athletes was celebrated Thursday at the 2005 Senior & Scholar Athlete Banquet. In the second year in its current format of recognizing both academic and athletic successes, the event took place in the Cottonwood Ballroom at the Sheraton Overland Park Hotel.

Men's basketball player Aaron Miles (Portland, Ore.) was named Senior Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year and swimmer Amy Gruber (Bigelow, Ark.) was named Senior Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Miles, a Communications major, was named to the Academic All-Big 12 first team as a junior and a senior. He finished his career No. 1 in KU and Big 12 history with 954 assists, which also ranked him eighth in NCAA history. A finalist for the Bob Cousy Award for the nation's most outstanding point guard, Miles was named to an all-Big 12 team each of his four years as a Jayhawk including being a second team selection by the Associated Press and third team pick by the league's coaches as a senior. Additionally, Miles was a nominee for both the Bayer Advantage® Senior CLASS Award and Collegiate Basketball Award of Excellence.

Gruber, a Journalism major, is a three-time first team Academic All-Big 12 selection and a 2003 Academic All-American. In the pool, she is a member of the school record-holding 200, 400 and 800 freestyle, and 200 and 400 medley relay teams. She competed in the NCAA championships in each of the last three seasons and has qualified to compete at the 2008 Olympic Trials. As a junior, she was named a first team All-Big 12 selection and qualified to compete at the USA National Championship for the third straight year. During her senior campaign she set the KU record in the 200 freestyle, and was named CollegeSwimming.com's National Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 24, 2004.

Sixteen student-athletes received a Senior Athlete of the Year award, given to those athletes who have achieved excellence at the conference, regional or national level. Those who received the award this year included Kim Clark (Elkhorn, Neb., track & field), Jill Dorsey (Wellsville, Kan., volleyball), Amy Geha (Overland Park, Kan., soccer), Rachel Gilfillan (Cottage Grove, Minn., soccer), Amy Gruber (Bigelow, Ark., swimming), Brooklyn Hann (Sacramento, Calif., track & field), Amy Linnen (Westhampton Beach, N.Y., track & field), David McMillan (Killeen, Texas, football), Ashley Michaels (Wathena, Kan., volleyball), Aaron Miles (Portland, Ore., men's basketball), Meghan Miller (Seattle, Wash., soccer), Jeremy Mims (Iowa City, Iowa, cross country/track & field), Andrew Price (Lake Forest, Ill., men's golf), Sean Richardson (Vista, Calif., baseball), Wayne Simien (Leavenworth, Kan., men's basketball) and Kevin Ward (Leawood, Kan., men's golf).

For their academic achievements this year, over 260 student-athletes were named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll, including 104 Academic All-Big 12 selections and seven Academic All-Americans. Those Academic All-Americans included Chelsey Pryor (women's golf), Caroline Smith (soccer), Aly Colver (swimming), Miranda Isaac (swimming), Jackie Krueger (swimming), Kim Clark (cross country/track & field) and Megan Manthe (cross country/track & field). In addition, 37 student-athletes were recognized who earned perfect 4.0 GPAs.

Wayne Simien (men's basketball), Holly Gault (soccer), Sheldon Battle (men's track & field), Benson Chesang (men's cross country/track & field), Jeremy Mims (men's cross country/track & field), Brooklyn Hann (women's track & field) and Amy Linnen (women's track & field) were honored for being named first team athletic All-Americans.

In addition to honoring KU's student-athletes, Parker Lessig (Business) was the recipient of the Del Shankel Teaching Excellence Award at Thursday night's banquet. Gary Kempf and Mary Vandeventer received the Student Support Service Awards.

Formerly known as the Jayhawk Scholar Recognition Banquet in its initial 10 years, the event was expanded in 2003-04 to include both academic and athletic success.

Following is a list of all of those individuals honored.

Academic All-Big 12

Matt Baty, Baseball

Mike Dudley, Baseball

Jake Kauzlarich, Baseball

Clint Schambach, Baseball

Andy Scholl, Baseball

Scott Sharpe, Baseball

A.J. Van Slyke, Baseball

Mike Zagurski, Baseball

Michael Lee, Men's Basketball

Aaron Miles, Men's Basketball