June 5, 2015 RENO, Nev. -- Baseball star
Austin Byler and women's basketball standout
Mimi Mungedi have won the 2014-15 Doc Martie and Ruth I. Russell Awards, respectively, as the University of Nevada most outstanding senior athletes, athletics director
Doug Knuth announced today.
The men's award is named for J.E. "Doc" Martie, a former Nevada men's basketball coach and administrator, while the women's honor is named for Ruth I. Russell, a former director of women's athletics. Student-athletes are nominated by their head coaches and must be in their final year of eligibility and in good academic standing.
The award winners are nominated by their head coaches and selected in a vote by the athletics department staff.
"Austin and Mimi represent all of the great things about Nevada and have demonstrated excellence in competition, in the classroom and in our community," Knuth said. "We're proud of their achievements and their legacy with the Wolf Pack."
Mungedi was twice selected as the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and was taken with the 25th overall pick in the WNBA Draft this spring. As a senior, she was named to the All-Mountain West team and WBCA All-Region team after leading the MW in shooting percentage, rebounds per game and double-doubles.
She finished her career at Nevada as the school's all-time leader in blocked shots (162) and set the single-season record with7 4 as a senior. She set the Mountain West and school single-game record with 29 rebounds in a game in February and finished her career seventh in rebounding at Nevada. A graduate of Nevada, she was a three-time member of the Academic All-Mountain West team and is a three-time MW Scholar-Athlete.
In his final season at Nevada, Byler capped one of the most accomplished careers in recent Pack history by being named to the All-Mountain West first team and Louisville Slugger All-American third team. The slugger batted .328 this season with 65 hits, 69 runs and 52 RBI. Nationally, Byler ranked third in walks and fourth in on-base percentage. Byler posted a .321 career batting average and ranked fourth in Nevada's record books with 40 career home runs and sixth with 211 career games played.
Byler was selected in the ninth round of the 2014 MLB draft by the Washington Nationals, but returned to Reno for his senior season and led the team to the second-most wins (41) in program history while winning the university's first-ever Mountain West championship.
This marks the eighth time in the history of the Martie Award that a baseball player has earned the honor, and the first since Matt Bowman in 2009. Mungedi is the fourth basketball player to win the Russell Award.
