Barry University Athletics hosted the Third Annual Bucky Awards on Wednesday, Apr. 25 in the Broad Auditorium.

The Bucs celebrated the past year's (April 1, 2017 through April 1, 2018) accomplishments of the student-athletes with awards for Most Improved Athlete, Best Play, Newcomer of the Year, Best Game, Career Achievement, Barry Unity. Additionally, the Strong Man/Woman Awards, the Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin Service Award, the Athletic Training Student of the Year, Male & Female Athletes of the Year and the Professor Neill Miller Scholar-Athletes of the Year were awarded.

Most Improved Athlete

Ingrid Lian went from averaging just 17.8 minutes per game and playing less than half of contests to starting every game and leading the women's soccer team in minutes played. She was a leader of the Buccaneers' defense which led the conference in shutout percentage (7 in 14 games) and was second in goals against average (.756). She helped the team lower their goals against average by 0.36 despite losing four of five in the defensive third.

Best Play

Men's Basketball ties Tampa at the buzzer - Kooper Glick heaved an inbound pass the length of the court to Daniel Mortensen who passed back to Sawyer Glick for a three-pointer at the buzzer that sent the game to overtime. The triple capped a 19-9 run over the last 0:56 seconds to tied the game. The Bucs won 107-103 in double overtime, which contributed to their SSC regular season championship.

Newcomer of the Year

Sunday Dech joined the team in the fall as a senior transfer and started 31 of 32 games as the Bucs advanced to the Elite 8 for the second time in three years. He led the team in rebounding (7.0), was third on the team in scoring (13.3), fourth in assists (2.0), second in steals (1.1) and tied for second in blocks (12). He earned a spot on the SSC All-Newcomer team and made the All-Tournament team at the South Regional. He tied the school record with 10 three-pointers in the ESPN3 game against Nova Southeastern on Feb. 17.

Best Game

The second-ranked Buccaneers rolled to a dominant 5-0 win over third- ranked Lynn to win the program's third national championship. It was the third win over Lynn on the season, with the first two being taunt 5-4 affairs. Sonja Larsen and Ana Pain were the catalysts, combining to beat Rosalie Willig and Stefanie Stemmer at #1 doubles. The pair then closed out the title with wins at number six and number five respectively.

Career Achievement

Sonja Larsen is the all-time winningest singles player in school history with 80 singles wins and career 93.0 winning percentage. A three-time All-American, she was the South Region Rookie of the Year as a freshman in 2015 and the South Region Player to Watch in 2017. She fulfilled that promise in the fall of 2017 by winning the South Region singles title and went on to become the first Buccaneer woman to win the ITA singles national championship. She led the Bucs to the national final twice in her first three years, winning it all last season. Her 28-0 record as a junior is nearly twice more than the next best perfect season (15-0). She is a three-time member of the SSC Commissioner's Honor Roll and two-time ITA Scholar All-American.

Barry Unity Cup

The Barry Unity Cup brings the athletic teams and department together through friendly competition. Each team had the opportunity to earn points by supporting other teams at their competitions, completing team and individual community service, and supporting non-athletic events on campus. This year the rowing team wins the cup after attending the seminar on How To Get Hired and working with Bowling with Special Olympics Florida among many other initiatives.

Alan Pacheco was named the Athletic Training Student of the Year, while Orianna Carmago of the rowing team won the Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin Service Award. The Strong Man Award went to Jonathan Quintana from baseball and the Strong Woman was rowing's Jensen Rayburn

The Professor Neill Miller Scholar-Athletes of the Year went to Alayna Gallagher of softball and Daniel Broeseker of baseball.

Gallagher, who repeats her win from last year, is a 3.973 student in biology as a senior. She is a three-time member of the President's List and has been named to the SSC Commissioner's Honor Roll and NFCA Scholar All-America teams three times. In 191 career games, with 188 starts, she is a .308 hitter with 114 runs scored and 59 RBI. Her 38 sacrifice bunts are fifth in program history.

Broeseker carries a 3.692 GPA in accounting as a senior. He becomes the 13th baseball player to win the award, most among the men's teams. He is a six-time member of the Dean's List and three-time member of the SSC Commissioner's Honor Roll. In 68 career appearances, he is 2-10 with 15 saves and a 5.88 ERA in 134.2 innings. Since transitioning to the bullpen full time, he is 0-4 with 14 saves and  2.82 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 44.2 innings. His 15 saves rank third all-time in program history.   

Sonja Larsen was named the Female Athlete of the Year. A 2017 ITA Doubles All-American, she helped lead the women's tennis team to the 2017 NCAA Division II National Championship, setting a school record by finishing 30-0. She was 1^st-team All-SSC in both singles and doubles, and set the school record for best perfect season, finishing 28-0 (previous record was 15-0). Named the ITA Player to Watch for the South Region, she went on to win the ITA South Region singles championship and became the first Barry women's player to win the ITA National Championship. She is only the second athlete in school history to win an individual title and a team national championship during her career (Emanuel Fritzl, 2009-10 team|2010-11 individual). She won 54 straight NCAA Division II singles matches. Currently, as of 4/18, ranked #2 in NCAA Division II, she is 9-1 this season against ranked opponents.

Elvar Fridriksson earned the Male Athlete of the Year award. A two-time Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year, he led the team to the SSC regular season title for the third straight season. A member of the 1^st-team All-South Region, he averaged 19.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 1.5 steals per game. Named 3^rd-Team All-America by D2CCA and Basketball Times and 4^th-Team All-American by D-II Bulletin, he Shot 49.0 percent from the floor, 41.8 percent from 3-point range and 82.8 percent from the line. He was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Cesar Odio Thanksgiving Classic, the SSC Championships and the South Region Tournament, where he was Most Outstanding Player. He broke Ryan Saunders' (the 2006-07 Barry Male Athlete of the Year) career assist record with 637 in just three seasons (previous record, set in four years, was 578). Fifth all-time in scoring at Barry and one of only nine 1,000 point scorers in school history, he was a Top-25 finalist for the Bevo Francis Award (Best Small College Basketball Player in the country).

Here are the team awards: