June 3, 2009

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -

TCU junior Erin Lorenzen was announced today as the Mountain West Conference Hal Rothman Sportsmanship Award recipient for 2008-09. The award, established in 2005-06 and re-named in honor of the late UNLV faculty athletics representative, is presented to the student-athlete who has distinguished him or herself through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. The student-athlete also must demonstrate good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting and be in good academic standing.

A three-time All-American, Lorenzen has competed as a member of the Horned Frogs' rifle team for three years. She routinely portrays the ideals of sportsmanship and competitive respect, and her character was never more evident than during the 2009 NCAA Rifle Championship in Fort Worth, Texas. During the air rifle competition, Lorenzen self-reported a misfire and subsequently received a zero score, costing Lorenzen and her team valuable points.

During match fire, Lorenzen's opponent showed a shot score of zero. Almost simultaneously, Lorenzen raised her hand to get the attention of the range officer. She indicated that while loading and resting her gun on the stand, it had fired accidentally and ejected a pellet at a 45-degree angle to her side. Lorenzen admitted that it was her pellet that had probably caused the zero to be registered. She was then forced to accept the zero as part of her own score.

Lorenzen, a native of Fort Wayne, Ind., is the first TCU student-athlete to earn the MWC Hal Rothman Sportsmanship Award. Previous honorees include Air Force's Peter French (fencing), Wyoming's Kevin Bretting (men's diving) and Utah's Katie Battazzo (women's soccer).

In April, 2007, the MWC Joint Council voted to re-name the award in honor of Hal Rothman, a noted historian, author and longtime UNLV professor who served as the institution's faculty athletics representative on the MWC Joint Council from 2001-06. Rothman lost a courageous battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, on February 24, 2007.