Wolf Pack Athletics hosts Wolfies awards Tuesday

NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans Athletic Department hosted the Wolfies on Tuesday, which honored Wolf Pack student-athletes for their success in the classroom and on the playing surface. It's the inaugural year for the updated awards ceremony after 19 years of the Student-Athlete Awards Ceremony. 
 

On top of honoring scholar athletes, the Loyola Athletics Department also handed out eight of-the-year awards: Highest Team GPA, Rookie of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Ochsner Comeback Athlete of the Year, Pursuit of Excellence, The Team Moment of the Year, Female Athlete of the Year and Male Athlete of the Year. 
 

"We're excited to enter a new era of our student-athlete awards event," Assistant Vice President of Athletics Brett Simpson said. "Our student athletes work tremendously hard in the classroom and in their sport, and we want to honor their efforts in every way we can. Thank you to our student athletes for another tremendous year, and we're grateful for our faculty, staff, and coaches who support them and prioritize academic success."
 

A total of 251 student-athletes received either Gold (4.0 GPA), Silver (3.50-3.99 GPA) or Bronze (3.00-3.49 GPA) status from Loyola. The Wolf Pack student-athletes combined to have 28 achieve the Gold standard, 126 reach Silver, and 97 earn Bronze. Two years' worth of NAIA Daktronics Scholar Athletes, which totaled 171, were honored next, then the 74 who are set to graduate in May. All of those totals exceeded last year's numbers. 
 

Dr. Leonard Kahn (Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences), Dr. Bobby Savioe (Dean of the College of Business), Dr. Sheryl Kennedy Haydel (Dean of the College of Music and Media), The Honorable Madeline Landrieu (Dean of the College of Law), and Dr. Christine Ebrahim (Dean of the College of Nursing and Health) presented the scholar-athlete awards, followed by Dr. Aimee Thomas presenting the NAIA Daktronics Scholar Athlete certificates. Loyola President Dr. Xavier Cole bestowed the graduates with their stoles after that. 
 

The night concluded with the Wolfie awards, first awarding the Highest Team GPA award for the 2024 calendar year to the Wolf Pack beach volleyball team with a GPA of 3.604. 
 

The Rookie of the Year, which honors a first-year Loyola student-athlete, went to track and field's Caleb Curry. In his first year with the program, he's broken one individual program record (400-meter hurdles) and two relay program records (4x400-meter; indoor & outdoor), as well as qualifying for the NAIA National Championship in May. 
 

The Newcomer of the Year award recognizes an individual who has made an immediate impact in their first year at the University. After being named the SSAC Women's Golf Newcomer of the Year and to the All-Conference Second Team, while also earning SSAC Championship All-Tournament honors last week, Sarah Meral was named Loyola's Newcomer of the Year on Tuesday
 

The Ochsner Comeback Athlete of the Year award went to men's swimming's Wesley Daniel, who has shown resiliency and determination in the face of adversity. Isabella Leaño was honored with the Pursuit of Excellence award, exemplifying the Jesuit ideals of pursuing excellence and living a life with and for others through their dedication to academics, athletics and service. 
 

The Team Moment of the Year was a more recent memory. The Wolf Pack women's tennis team claimed the program's first SSAC Championship on Saturday, and their moment easily highlighted the year of Wolf Pack athletics so far. 
 

The Female Athlete of the Year was given to women's tennis' Lucy Carpenter, and the Male Athlete of the Year went to baseball's Garrett Felix. Carpenter aided the Wolf Pack to that SSAC title last week as Loyola's No. 1 player. The graduate student was 18-1 in doubles this season and 15-3 in singles, earning four SSAC weekly awards and a spot on the SSAC All-Conference First Team for the fifth season in a row. Felix, who was playing in his first season with the Wolf Pack, leads the team with a .414 batting average and a .532 on-base percentage this season. He's added 65 hits, 57 runs, 36 RBI, 14 doubles and three home runs, and he'll assuredly be honored with an SSAC All-Conference nod next week when those are announced. 
 

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