July 11, 2007
Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky announced today that Rice baseball player Joe Savery and Houston sprinter Ebonie Floyd were named the 2006-07 C-USA Athletes of the Year. Savery becomes the third baseball player to win in the four-year history of the award, while Floyd becomes the first member of a track and field squad to earn the conference honor.
Savery, a pitcher and first baseman, shined as one of the top two-way performers in the country this season, earning consensus first team All-America honors. The Conference USA Player of the Year, Savery was among the four finalists for the 2007 Dick Howser Trophy, given to college baseball's top player. Savery led the Owls in batting average (.356), hits (98) and total bases (139), had 19 doubles, six home runs and 60 RBI (second on the team). In working double-duty on the mound, Savery tied for the C-USA lead in victories, going 11-1 with a 2.99 ERA and 61 strikeouts to go along with an opponents' batting average of .242. The Bellaire, Texas, native's talents helped earn Rice a second straight trip to the College World Series.
Floyd capped off her UH career by earning All-America status at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The sprint specialist won silver in the 100m (11.28) and bronze in the 200m (22.65). She also ran anchor on the 4x100m relay team that placed 10th in the prelims. Prior to nationals, she clocked the second-fastest time in the world of 22.32 in the 200m to set an NCAA Midwest Regional record. Floyd also won the 100m at Regionals to earn her United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association South Central Region Female Track Athlete of the Year accolades. She set three C-USA Outdoor Track and Field Championship records when she won both the 200m (22.67) and 400m (51.74) and was on the winning 4x100 relay team (44.24). The senior also ran the final leg of the gold medal 4x400 relay (3:40.58) for a championship-best 25 points, earning her Performance of the Meet and High Point Scorer Awards. Floyd turned in four of the Cougars' nine individual titles won that weekend. A native of Houston, she becomes the third Cougar to win Athlete of the Year honors.
The 2006-07 athletic season marked the fourth time that C-USA has honored Male and Female Athletes of the Year. The award is based solely on athletic achievement during an academic year and the winners are determined through a vote by the league's Directors of Athletics. Tulsa women's basketball player Jillian Robbins was named the 2005-06 Female Athlete of the Year. There were co-recipients of the Male Athlete of the Year as Houston baseball player Brad Lincoln and Memphis football standout DeAngelo Williams shared the honor. TCU captured both of the 2004-05 awards, with women's basketball player Sandora Irvin and baseball player Lance Broadway earning the honors. The 2003-04 winners were Houston women's basketball player Chandi Jones and Tulane men's tennis player Michael Kogan.
Conference USA Athletes of the Year
Year Male Female 2006-07 Joe Savery, Rice baseball Ebonie Floyd, Houston track & field 2005-06 Brad Lincoln, Houston baseball Jillian Robbins, Tulsa women's basketball DeAngelo Williams, Memphis football 2004-05 Lance Broadway, TCU baseball Sandora Irvin, TCU women's basketball 2003-04 Michael Kogan, Tulane tennis Chandi Jones, Houston women's basketball
