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New Mexico's Murray, Air Force's Diaz Named MWC Student-Athletes of the Year
June 24, 2004
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - New Mexico senior Sean Murray and Air Force senior Delavane Diaz were selected as the 2004 Mountain West Conference Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year, respectively, and will each be awarded a postgraduate scholarship in recognition of their achievements. Established by the Mountain West Conference Joint Council in 1999, the Student-Athlete of the Year award is the highest honor presented to a student-athlete by the conference. The award is bestowed annually to the man and woman who best exemplify the term "student-athlete" by achieving excellence in academics, community involvement and athletics. Criteria for the Student-Athlete of the Year award requires that nominees demonstrate leadership, character and conduct on and off the playing field. In addition to superior athletic achievement, candidates must have a minimum 3.5 grade point average and be in their final year of eligibility in any NCAA-recognized sport. Murray, a mechanical engineering major/University Honors minor from Albuquerque, N.M., is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America selection and four-year letterwinner for the New Mexico baseball team. A University Regent Scholarship recipient, Murray carried a 4.22 grade point average in his major, while also serving as co-captain and Peer Mentor for the baseball team. Murray balanced a challenging schedule with several academic and athletic commitments, including involvement with the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and several programs designed to help at-risk youth, while also starting 51-of-52 games this season for the Lobo baseball team. Murray was the founder of the "I Can" Kids Camp and dedicated several hours to reading programs and camps targeted toward elementary students. His list of achievements includes Dean's List, Academic All-MWC, MWC Scholar Athlete, Outstanding Junior and Senior in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, American Chemical Society Prize, and the prestigious Truman Scholarship, awarded to just 75 students nationwide. He capped his Lobo baseball career with a .345 batting average and 112 RBI in 149 games played, including a team-high .383 average in 2003. Diaz, an astronautical engineering major from Tampa, Fla., excelled in every discipline at the Air Force Academy - academic, military and athletics. Recently named the U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet of the Year, the highest honor a cadet can receive, Diaz was also just the 33rd cadet in history to earn a Rhodes Scholarship. She has been a mainstay on the Academy Dean's List and the Academic All-MWC team, earning honors four years in both categories. Diaz held the highest leadership position by a cadet as Wing Commander and she represented over 1,000 cadets as a member of the Executive Honor Committee for two years, serving as the resident expert on the Honor Code and honor education. A recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Diaz carried a 3.96 GPA in her major. She was inducted into the Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Gamma Tau honor societies, and was selected by the Dean of the Faculty to represent USAFA in Washington, D.C., to brief the secretary of the Air Force for Acquisitions about ongoing research at the Academy. A three-time volunteer for National Women in Sports Day, Diaz also excelled as a four-year letterwinner for the Falcons volleyball team, earning first-team All-MWC and Academic All-America honors as a senior. She set MWC records for kills per game (4.98) and kills in a match (41) last season and ranks second all-time in career kills in the MWC (1,468). MWC Student-Athletes of the Year
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