@MizzouAthletics Honored at WIN for Columbia Awards Luncheon
2/7/2017 2:45:00 PM | General, Women's Basketball, Track & Field, Cross Country, MizzouMade
Pingeton, Schweizer and Kempfer all awarded individual honors
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Athletics was well represented at the 20th annual Women's Intersport Network (WIN) for Columbia Awards luncheon on Tuesday at the Southwell Complex on the Columbia College Campus. Award winners from Mizzou included women's basketball head coach Robin Pingeton and track and field student-athletes Karissa Schweizer (Urbandale, Iowa) and Jamie Kempfer (Festus, Mo.).
Six-time Mizzou Track & Field All-American and two-time U.S. Olympian Natasha Brown opened the luncheon as the keynote speaker, touching on the importance of positive influences throughout her life.
FULL STREAMED EVENT:
Pingeton was named Coach of the Year, earning her first career WIN for Columbia award. Pingeton guided the Tigers to a 22-win season last year and its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance. Under her leadership, Mizzou spent eight weeks in the AP Top 25 poll last season and won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2001. This season, the Tigers have already claimed 16 victories and will cement their fifth consecutive winning campaign for the first time since 1985-90. Pingeton's squad has also excelled in the classroom, posting a program record 3.31 team GPA during the spring of 2016 and a fall semester-record 3.29 GPA last term. Pingeton is the second Mizzou Women's Basketball head coach to receive the honor, joining Cindy Stein, who earned the award in 2002.
Schweizer was named the Collegiate Sportswoman of the Year following her banner season in track and field and cross country. The Tiger junior began 2016 with an All-America finish in the 5,000m run at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and capped the year with an SEC Championship, NCAA Midwest Regional Championship and NCAA Cross Country National Championship in November. Following all of her success in 2016, Schweizer was named the SEC Women's Runner of the Year, NCAA Midwest Regional Women's Athlete of the Year, USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Year and Honda Sport Award Winner for Cross Country. Schweizer is the third consecutive Mizzou Track & Field athlete to win the award after Kearsten Peoples was given the honor in 2015 and 2016. Overall, four Mizzou Track & Field athletes have won the award five times after Ashley Wysong and Ann Marie Brooks won the award in 2001 and 2002, respectively.
Mizzou Women's Basketball's Sophie Cunningham (Columbia, Mo.) and Swim & Dive's Lauren Reedy (Rochester Hills, Mich.) were also named finalists for the Collegiate Sportswoman of the Year.
Kempfer was given the Inspiration Award following an outstanding 2016 cross country season in which the distance specialist overcame numerous challenges, specifically hip injuries that limited her training regimen. Kempfer battled through the pain to finish fifth at the SEC Championships, fifth at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships and 27th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships to earn All-SEC First Team, NCAA Midwest All-Regional Team and NCAA All-America honors. Kempfer is the second Mizzou athlete to win the award after women's basketball's Lianna Doty (St. Louis, Mo.) won the award in 2016.
In addition to individual awards, the Mizzou Volleyball team was recognized as a WINner's Choice Award recipient for its stellar 2016 season. The Tigers captured their second Southeastern Conference Championship in 2016 and advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time since 2010.
Players Mentioned
