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Go Big Blue!

UK Recognizes Outstanding Student-Athletes at CATSPY Awards



LEXINGTON, Ky. –The 17th annual CATSPY Awards were held Monday in Memorial Coliseum to recognize athletic and academic performances during the 2018-19 year in the UK Athletics Department. With co-winners in some categories, 44 individuals were recognized as well as multiple teams.


Headlining the awards this year’s Elite Team Award were the football, men’s soccer, women’s track and field, and volleyball squads.


The football team knocked down historic barriers en route to a 10-win season and a VRBO Citrus Bowl victory over Penn State on New Year’s Day. The men’s soccer team came within a win of the program’s first College Cup berth in school history after sweeping the Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles. Women’s track and field captured individual national championships and finished on the podium for the third time in four seasons. And, the volleyball team, highlighted by an undefeated league run and a 23-match winning streak, won the Southeastern Conference regular-season championship for the second straight season.


The Mr. and Miss Wildcat awards – dedicated in honor of the late Bruno Agostinelli, a UK men’s tennis All-American and past Mr. Wildcat winner – went to C.J. Conrad (football), Katie Reed (softball) and Asia Seidt (women’s swimming and diving). The Mr. And Miss Wildcat honors are presented to Wildcats who have represented all-around excellence in athletics, academics, character and service during their Kentucky careers.


Conrad, who caught 80 career passes with 12 touchdowns, was one of the pillars behind UK football’s uprising that saw the Wildcats climb as high as No. 9 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Reed is the third softball All-American in school history, the 2018 SEC Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and led UK to two Super Regional appearances in her career. Seidt is an eight-time NCAA First Team All-American, the most of any swimmer in UK history (male or female), a four-time SEC champion, the 2019 Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar of the Year, and the 2019 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

A new honor was bestowed upon a group of Wildcats this year: the Legacy Award. The Legacy Award honors student-athletes who have made significant contributions to their team and the athletics department over the course of their careers. Twenty-two Wildcats took home the new hardware. A full list of those honorees are below.


Men’s golf and women’s swimming and diving were tabbed the Academic Teams of the Year. Blake Best and Miles Butler from football and Marshall Gei from baseball were named the Male Scholar Athletes of the Year, and softball’s Reed won Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. Best, Butler and Reed earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 2018. Gei was a 2018 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars Team member.


Josh Paschal (football) took his fight with cancer head on and returned to the gridiron less than four months after being diagnosed with a malignant melanoma on the bottom of his right foot. He was deservedly awarded the Heart of a Wildcat honor.


Marcus Spears, a college football analyst for the SEC Network, and Laura Rutledge, an ESPN college football and basketball sideline reporter, hosted this year’s CATSPYs.


A complete list of awards is below:


Academic Team of the Year

Men’s Golf

Women’s Swimming and Diving


Female Rookie of the Year

Rhyne Howard, Women’s Basketball


Male Rookie of the Year

Jason Reyes, Soccer

Terry Wilson, Football

Will Shaner, Rifle

Danny Zhang, Swimming and Diving

Keldon Johnson, Men’s Basketball

Tyler Herro, Men’s Basketball

Dwight St. Hillaire, Track and Field


Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Marshall Gei, Baseball

Blake Best, Football

Miles Butler, Football


Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Katie Reed, Softball


Community Service Award

C.J. Conrad, Football

Morgan Duerr, Rifle


Supporting Role

Merideth Jewell, Volleyball

David Bouvier, Football

Reid Travis, Men’s Basketball

Katie Stuart, Gymnastics


Scratch Award

Cole Guindon, Men’s Soccer

McKenzie Watson, Volleyball


Blue Heart Award

Aimé Mabika, Men’s Soccer

Ogechi Anyagaligbo, Women’s Basketball


Legacy Award

Katie Reed, Softball

Abbey Cheek, Softball

Maci Morris, Women’s Basketball

Taylor Murray, Women’s Basketball

Josh Allen, Football

Benny Snell Jr., Football

Sidney Dukes, Gymnastics

Alex Hyland, Gymnastics

Katrina Coca, Gymnastics

Danaea Davis, Gymnastics

Aubree Rosa, Gymnastics

Katie Stuart, Gymnastics

Asia Seidt, Women’s Swimming and Diving

Sydney McLaughlin, Women’s Track and Field

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Women’s Track and Field

Marie-Josée Ebwea-Bile Excel, Women’s Track and Field

Tim Duckworth, Men’s Track and Field

Daniel Roberts, Men’s Track and Field

JJ Williams, Men’s Soccer

Leah Edmond, Volleyball

Madison Lilley, Volleyball

Leonie Bettel, Women’s Golf


Bill Keightley Assist Award

Randy Gregory, Men’s Basketball


Heart of a Wildcat

Josh Paschal, Football


Elite Team Award

Football

Men’s Soccer

Women’s Track and Field

Volleyball


Mr. Wildcat

C.J. Conrad


Miss Wildcat

Katie Reed

Asia Seidt


UK Athletics Photos by Britney Howard

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