Marquette's Kolek and Lyons earn BIG EAST Sport Excellence Awards

NEW YORK - Marquette University's Tyler Kolek and Max Lyons were announced on Monday afternoon as announced the winners of 2023-24 BIG EAST Sport Excellence Awards, which recognize academic and athletic achievement as well as community service.

Kolek was honored as the league's winner for men's basketball, while Lyons earned the accolade for men's golf.

The Sport Excellence Awards are given to one student-athlete in each BIG EAST-sponsored sport based on academic credentials, athletic accolades or performances and volunteer service to the community. Student-athletes who have attained junior academic standing and a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.00 are eligible. The winners are chosen by the BIG EAST Faculty Athletics Representative Council.

Seton Hall led the way with four honorees, while Xavier and Villanova both had three recipients. Five student-athlete winners, Butler's Emily Landwehr, Georgetown's Julia Leas, Marquette's Max Lyons, Providence's Josh Lewin and Xavier's Erin Kim boasted an undergraduate GPA of 3.9 or higher.

While the format of the awards allows for only one declared winner in each sport category, the selection of the recipients proves each year to be a challenge for the FAR Council, as candidate nominees represent exceptional student-athletes who excel in academics, service, and athletics, and are outstanding representatives of their schools and the Conference.

Kolek, a two-time Consensus Second Team All-American, graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in communications studies and was a second round selection in the 2024 NBA Draft. The native of Cumberland, Rhode Island was a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award as a senior and was selected to NCAA All-South Region for leading the men's basketball team to the NCAA Sweet 16. He also earned BIG EAST Player of the Year as a junior and Most Outstanding Player honors at the 2023 BIG EAST Tournament while helping the Golden Eagles to their first BIG EAST title since 2013.

Lyons was the 2023-24 BIG EAST Men's Golfer of the Year and a College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® Second Team selection. Lyons sports a 3.977 cumulative grade point average as a finance major in MU's highly selective AIM program - the CFA Institute's first-in-the nation partner, managing a portfolio of investments for MU. He led qualifying BIG EAST athletes with a 72.33 stroke scoring average this season, while posting 17 par-or-better rounds and five rounds in the 60s. His scoring average was plus-0.70 strokes to par and he led MU at six of its 11 events over the academic year.

Lyons is a three-time All-BIG EAST selection (first team in 2022-23 & 2023-24 and second team in 2021-22) and was recognized as the 2021-22 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year during his first year on campus. During that spring he set the BIG EAST Championships all-time low men's round with a 64 in round one in 2022 at Callaway Gardens.

2023-24 BIG EAST Sports Excellence Award Winners ($ - undergraduate GPA indicated only; ^ - graduate GPA and major indicated)

Sport	Student-Athlete	Institution	Major	GPA $
Baseball	Zachary Sylvester	Seton Hall	Biology and Catholic Studies	3.796
Men's Basketball	Tyler Kolek	Marquette	Communication Studies	3.138
Men's Cross Country	Liam Murphy	Villanova	Communications	3.330
Men's Golf	Max Lyons	Marquette	Finance & Accelerating Ingenuity in Mrkt	3.977
Men's Indoor Track & Field	Josh Lewin	Providence	Marketing and Management	3.960
Men's Lacrosse	James Corasaniti	Providence	History ^	3.690 ^
Men's Outdoor Track & Field	Jesse Hamlin	Butler	Mathematics and Computer Science	3.798
Men's Soccer	Taylor Rhinehart	Xavier	Finance	3.839
Men's Swimming and Diving	Sean Vizzard	Seton Hall	Biology, pre-med	3.871
Men's Tennis	Leon Huck	DePaul	Business Administration	3.628
Field Hockey	Meghan Mitchell	Villanova	Finance	3.890
Softball	Kelsey Carr	Seton Hall	Psychology	3.847
Volleyball	Giorgia Walther	St. John's	International Management	3.830
Women's Basketball	Lauren Jensen	Creighton	Psychology and Sociology	3.790
Women's Cross Country	Kate Cochran	Seton Hall	Diplomacy and International Relations & Environmental Studies	3.800
Women's Golf	Erin Kim	Xavier	Sports Management	4.000
Women's Indoor Track & Field	Melissa Riggins	Georgetown	Economics	3.563
Women's Lacrosse	Landyn White	UConn	Allied Health	3.650
Women's Outdoor Track & Field	Roschell Clayton	Villanova	Communications	3.850
Women's Soccer	Julia Leas	Georgetown	Psychology	3.900
Women's Swimming and Diving	Emily Landwehr	Butler	Biochemistry	3.971
Women's Tennis	Imani Graham	Xavier	Exercise Science	3.790

Marquette's Kolek and Lyons earn BIG EAST Sport Excellence Awards

Players Mentioned

Tyler Kolek

Max Lyons

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