May 31, 2011

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Two Western Washington University golfers, Xavier Dailly and Katie Sharpe, who helped the Vikings to men's and women's Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships, respectively, are the school's Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year for 2010-11. The announcement was made Tuesday at the second annual Dub-Dub-Blue awards ceremony.

The scholar-athlete awards, which have been handed out since 1999, recognize Western student-athletes who best demonstrate excellence both in competition and in the classroom.

Dailly and Sharpe were each accorded first-team College Sports Information Directors of America Capital One Academic All-District 8 college division honors and both are on ballots for Academic All-American honors. They also were GNAC academic all-stars.

Dailly, a senior from Burlington where he graduated from Burlington-Edison High School, has a 3.80 (4.0 scale) grade point average. He is completing a degree in economics after obtaining a degree in business administration and finance last spring.

Dailly had a 74.1 scoring average, earning first-team GNAC all-star honors for the second straight year. He took medalist honors at the Saint Martin's Invitational and placed third at the GNAC Championship Tournament. The Vikings won that title and narrowly missed out on a trip to the NCAA Division II National Championships by placing sixth, one spot short of qualifying, at the West/Central Super Regional.

Last year, after transferring to Western from Washington State, Dailly was a Golf Coaches Association of America Cleveland All-America Scholar and PING All-America honorable mention. He also was a GCAA West Region all-star, GNAC Player of the Year and GNAC Newcomer of the Year, posting a 72.3 scoring average.

A graduate of Bellingham High School, Sharpe is a senior elementary education major with a 3.96 GPA. She had a 78.8 scoring average, earning first-team GNAC all-star recognition.

Sharpe took co-medalist honors at both the Saint Martin's and WWU tournaments and placed fifth at the Sonoma State tourney. She helped the Vikings to the GNAC title, third place at the NCAA II Super West Regional and 11th place at nationals in the school's first appearance since 2008.

Sharpe placed seventh at the GNAC tournament, finished 35th at regionals and tied for 38th at nationals. The year before, she competed at nationals as an individual, tying for 60th.

During the 2009-10 season, Sharpe placed fifth at the super regional and was a National Golf Coaches Association West Region all-star.

Sharpe played two seasons at NCAA I Santa Clara before transferring to Western. She was the Whatcom County Player of the Year as a senior at Bellingham High.

Dailly and Sharpe were both members of Western's Student Athletic Advisory Committee during the 2010-11 school year.

WWU SCHOLAR ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

MALE

1999 Erik Meyer, track2000 Marty Juergens, football2001 Erik Totten, football2002 Erik Totten, football2003 Greg Dykstra, football2004 Rob White, football2005 Rob White, football2006 Scott Romney, track2007 Keith Lemay, track2008 Keith Lemay, track/cross country2009 Anthony Zackary, football2010 Alex Harrison, track2011 Xavier Dailly, golf

FEMALE

1999 Sarah Hiss, track2000 Sarah Hiss, track2001 Kelsi Giswald, rowing2002 Liz Bishop, volleyball2003 Liz Bishop, volleyball2004 Liz Bishop, volleyball2005 Jodi Gerald, basketball     Meghan Evoy, volleyball2006 Jessica Telleria, track2007 Audrey Coon, rowing2008 Audrey Coon, rowing2009 Audrey Coon, rowing2010 Casey Mapes, rowing2011 Katie Sharpe, golf