AU Names Athletes of the Year

AURORA, Ill. May 17, 2007 - The Aurora University Athletic Department named its 2006-2007 male and female Athletes of the Year at the annual Spartan Sports Spring Banquet on Wednesday, May 16, 2007. The awards, as voted on by members of the AU Athletic Department, were presented to junior men’s basketball forward Larry Welton (Chicago, IL/Thornwood H.S.) and junior women’s softball third baseman Dana Cebular (Brookfield, IL/Riverside-Brookfield H.S.).

On hand to honor these two fine student-athletes were Aurora University Vice President for Student Life Mike Moser, Director of Athletics Mark Walsh, members of the spring sports teams, their families and friends, as well as Men’s Basketball Head Coach James Lancaster and Softball Head Coach Mike McKenzie.

Men’s Basketball Head Coach James Lancaster led the festivities by announcing the Male Athlete of the Year recipient, junior basketball standout forward Larry Welton. The prestigious awards keep racking up for Welton in his three seasons as a Spartan. This season, Welton averaged 20.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, en route to being named NABC Second-Team All-American, D3hoops.com Third-Team All-American, NABC and D3hoops.com First-Team All-Region, Northern Athletics Conference Player of the Year and First-Team All-Conference. Both conference awards mark the third-consecutive year that Welton has been recognized for his tremendous on-court play. The previous two seasons came in the former Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference. In his three seasons at AU, Welton tallied double-figure scoring outputs in 80 of the 84 contests, while tallying 20 or more points 46 times in his career. Welton has been named to five All-American teams, All-Region six times, conference Player of the Year three times and All-Conference three times. Welton continued to add to his AU legacy during his junior season, which included moving into the top five on the AU all-time scoring list with 1,736 points, which places him fifth. The all-time leading scorer is AU legend Mickey Johnson with 2,453 points.

McKenzie followed with the Female Athlete of the Year winner, junior women’s softball standout third baseman Dana Cebular. The Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) softball Player of the Year, National Fastpitch Coaches Association First-Team All-Region and NAC All-Conference recipient, Cebular continued to rewrite the Spartan record books. She extended her own career record with 27 home runs after having set the single-season record with 11 home runs as a freshman. This season she hit .483 with 16 doubles, seven triples, 10 home runs, 60 runs scored and 38 runs batted in. Cebular had a .897 slugging percentage with a .531 on-base percentage and a .917 fielding percentage at the hot corner. With the 16 doubles, she tied the career mark with 39 (previously held by Melissa Ivlow from 1987-1991). The 60 runs scored is a new single-season record and with 130 total bases on the season, she broke her own record of 105. The Spartan women finished the season with a 35-8 overall record and 21-1 in the NAC and were the NAC regular season and tournament champions.

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