Aurora University Athletics

The 2017-2018 athletic seasons culminated with one of the most successful years in the history of Aurora University Athletics. With the achievement  comes the recognition of the athletes that made the success possible, with the Aurora University Male Athlete of the Year. The award, as voted on by staff members of the AU Athletic Department, will be presented to senior baseball student-athlete Jacob Stockman and senior men's basketball student-athlete Marcus Myers.

Stockman and Myers both captured the top athletic honor at AU following a tremendous final collegiate season for the duo on the basketball court and baseball diamond.

For Stockman, the Male Athlete of the Year honor makes it a sweep of the top Spartan athletics honors as he was also recently named the AU Spartan Man of the Year. During his phenomenal senior season, Stockman was awarded the unique distinction of earning Academic and Athletic All-American honors. He earned the CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-America honor along with selections as an ABCA/Rawlings Third-Team All-American, First-Team ABCA/Rawlings Midwest All-Region Team, a D3baseball.com First-Team All-Region selection and earlier this spring he was named the 2018 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Pitcher of the Year and First-Team All-Conference, and CoSIDA Academic All-District. 

On the field, Stockman finished his senior season with a 9-2 record and one save in 89-1/3 innings pitched. In 14 appearances and 12 starts, Stockman had a stellar 1.71 earned run average while striking out 72 and opponents hit .218 against. In the classroom, he completed a perfect academic resume with a 4.00 grade point average. The Spartan baseball team concluded the 2018 season with a 30-15 overall record, a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament Championship and the program's 21st NCAA Division III Tournament appearance.

Myers earned the Male Athlete of the Year honor following a tremendous senior campaign on the basketball court. He was  selected as a Third-Team All-American by D3hoops.com, while also receiving All-American recognition from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Basketball News. He was tabbed by D3hoops.com and the NABC as an All-Region selection and he was the 2017-2018 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Player of the Year and First-Team All-Conference selection.

On the season, Myers finished by averaging 20.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while shooting 50.7-percent from the field (232-of-458). The Spartan men's team finished the 2017-2018 season with a 20-9 overall record and won the NACC regular season and tournament title with a 16-4 record. Backed by Myers buzzer beating heroics (watch here) AU defeated Washington University, St. Louis 82-80 in the first round of the NCAA Division III Championships.

Additionally, senior men's soccer student-athlete Milton Tamunang received the Richard Rickey Award. The Richard Rickey Award is given to a senior male student-athlete who exemplifies the characteristics of dedication, determination, sportsmanship and faith throughout the academic year.