Abdukhalikov chosen Tech's Outstanding Male Athlete for 2012-13
Among several great performances in 2012-13 by a variety of Tennessee Tech's male athletes, nobody was quite as dominant as senior tennis standout Syrym Abdukhalikov, who has been chosen as the school's Outstanding Male Athlete.
Story by Thomas Corhern
Cookeville Herald-Citizen
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — There were dominant performances for the
Tennessee Tech men’s athletes this year.
But the 10 finalists for the Male Athlete of the Year award
rewrote the definition of the word.
Baseball’s Tristan Archer shattered the Golden Eagle record
book before getting selected in this year’s Major League
Baseball entry draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. Junior Matthew
Bishop led the Tech men’s cross country team, finishing in
the team’s top spot in three meets this past year.
Men’s basketball senior Jud Dillard finished second in the
Ohio Valley Conference in scoring, then made his mark on the career
chart. Football senior Will Johnson rebounded from an injury season
and put together a fantastic defensive effort on the field.
Senior quarterback Tre Lamb was the football team’s
offensive MVP, despite missing the final four games of the season,
and still put up some impressive marks. Junior baseball player
Daniel Miles made an impact at the plate in just his first season
with the team.
Men’s basketball junior Dennis Ogbe had a breakout season
and led the OVC in field goal percentage. Highly touted wide
receiver transfer Da’Rick Rogers set school records in his
redemption year after getting dismissed from the University of
Tennessee. Junior baseball player Zach Stephens led the Golden
Eagle baseball team in seven offensive categories.
But none of them had as dominant of a season as Tech senior tennis
player Syrym Abdukhalikov.
He just didn’t lose.
With that, Abdukhalikov was named the 2013 Tech Male Athlete of
the Year, the first recipient of the award for the Golden Eagle
men’s tennis program since the award’s inception in
1994.
In his two seasons of Ohio Valley Conference play, Abdukhalikov
went 17-0 in the regular season as the No. 1 player in singles and
doubles.
This past year, he only lost twice in the dual match season,
falling to Malte Stropp 7-6, 8-6, 4-6, 3-6 from then-No. 10 ranked
Mississippi State, then 2-6, 4-6 to Adrien Lengeard from UNC
Asheville.
And that was it.
Read the complete story in the Cookeville Herald-Citizen by
clicking here
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