INDIANAPOLIS - The Great Midwest Athletic Conference has announced its 2013-14 Female and Male Athletes of the Year. Ciara Geiger of Urbana University and Matt Brooker of Cedarville University have been voted the inaugural winners of this honor.
Female Athlete of the Year
Ciara Geiger of the Urbana University Women’s Basketball team was named the 2012-13 G-MAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year. The sophomore guard also earned G-MAC All-Conference First Team honors after being named G-MAC Women’s Basketball Athlete of the Week five times.
Geiger was named to the NCAA Division II Daktronics All-Midwest Region Team, becoming the first ever Urbana women’s basketball athlete to earn the honor. She was named Urbana’s Female Blue Knight of the Year Award and Team MVP. She led Urbana to G-MAC Women’s Basketball Championship after scoring 20 points in championship game to lead all scorers.
Geiger led the G-MAC in scoring with 18.4 points per game, which also ranked 23rd in nation (NCAA DII). She also ranked atop the conference with 79 three-pointers, shooting 42% from beyond the arc. She ranked ninth in NCAA DII in three-point shooting.
The Ft. Wayne native (Indiana) scored 20-plus points in 12 games and ranks 12th on Urbana’s all-time scoring list, despite only playing two seasons (sophomore). She was a team co-captain and a member of the Athletic Directors Honor Roll.
Male Athlete of the Year
Matt Brooker of Cedarville University was the senior leader of the Men’s Cross Country team. The Spring Mills (Pa.) native was named the 2012 G-MAC Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Year after winning the 2012 G-MAC Men’s Cross Country Individual Championship and leading his team to the 2012 Conference Team Championship.
Brooker was also named to the G-MAC Men’s Cross Country All-Conference First Team. During the season, Brooker was named G-MAC Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Week four-straight times out of five possible weeks. The one week in which he was not named Runner of the Week, was the first week of the season, and Brooker did not race during that time period so was not eligible to earn the honor.
Following the Conference Championship he went on to win the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Individual Championship, placing first of 158 competitors. He led his team to the NCAA Division II Championships race, where he finished 41st in the nation. He just missed out on earning All-American status, which goes to the races top 40 finishers.
Brooker captured individual titles at the Cedarville Friendship Invitational and Wisconsin-Parkside Invitational Champion. In the spring, he ran as a member of the Track and Field program (a non-G-MAC sport in 2012-13), and ran at NCAA DII Outdoor Championships, finishing 16th in the nation.