Women's soccer's Danielle Brunache and football's Nick Forbes co-hosted the event held on the floor inside arena.
The first award of the evening was for the Female Newcomer of the Year. The nominees were Taylor Comeau (soccer), Danielle Henderson (softball), Zsofi Susanyi (tennis), Gabby Christman (lacrosse), Brittany Boyd (basketball) and Lara Kruggel (field hockey).
Susanyi took home the honor after leading the Golden Bears in singles wins during the regular season. She finished the regular season ranked No. 14 nationally, playing at the No. 1 and No. 2 spot in the Bears' lineup. Susanyi heads into this weekend's NCAA Tournament with a 34-7 overall record. She also owns an 26-7 record in doubles play and an 11-1 mark playing alongside Jana Juricova.
The evening's second award honored the Male Newcomer of the Year. The nominees were David Kravish (basketball), Kyle Porter (baseball), Will Hamilton (swimming) and Aleska Saponjic (water polo).
Hamilton took home the second Oski of the evening after a season where he captured an NCAA title in the 200 fly with a time of 1:40.94 to edge out teammate and 2010 NCAA 200 fly champion Tom Shields (1:41.07). Entering the NCAA Championships, Hamilton was seeded 27th in the event.
The next Oski to be handed out was Coach of the Year. The nominees were David Esquer (Baseball Head Coach), David Durden (Men's Swimming & Diving Head Coach), Teri McKeever (Women's Swimming & Diving Head Coach), Greg Meehan (Men's Swimming & Diving Associate Head Coach), Wyatt Allen (Men's Crew Assistant Varsity Coach) and Jack Clark (Rugby Head Coach).
The back-to-back NCAA Champion swimming & diving head coaches Teri McKeever and David Durden were co-winners. Each mentor led their program to an NCAA team title for the second consecutive year, garnering NCAA Coach of the Meet and Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors along the way.
The evening's next award was for Female Athlete of the Year. The nominees were Tarah Murrey (volleyball), Laysia Clarendon (basketball), Deborah Maier (cross country), Jana Juricova (tennis), Caitlin Leverenz (swimming), Jolene Henderson (softball) and Andrea Earle (field hockey).
Juricova took home the Oski for Female Athlete of the Year. She was crowned the NCAA Singles Champion last spring (following last year's Oskis) and was named ITA National Player of the Year following her stellar junior campaign in 2011 that also included a Pac-12 Doubles Championship. She was ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation this season and is currently ranked No. 7 heading into this weekend's NCAA Championships. Juricova owns a 25-6 overall singles record this spring and a 23-5 doubles mark overall and a 17-3 record with teammate Zsofi Susanyi.
Next, the Oski was handed out for Male Athlete of the Year. The nominees were Tony Renda (baseball), Tom Shields (swimming), Mychal Kendricks (football), Jorge Gutierrez (basketball) and Chris Yeager (crew).
The 2011-12 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year was the recipient of this Oski. Gutierrez became the first player in conference history to claim both the Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year award. His postseason activities included invitations to the NABC Reese's All-Star Team and the Portsmount Invitational Tournament. He was also an NABC All-District 20 First Team selection and was named to the USBWA All-District IX Team. Gutierrez is one of the most decorated players in program history and sits on the school's top ten lists for assists, steals, and games played; he also completed his career ranked 20th in Cal history for points scored.
Gutierrez was back on stage again, this time alongside his girlfriend Frani Echavarria of softball as the couple took home the Oski for Golden Couple of the Year.
The male and female teams of the year were the next Oskis handed out. Swimming & diving took home some more hardware as the back-to-back national champion men's and women's programs were honored.
There were many outstanding performances throughout the evening's awards show, including a variety of music acts and a jump roping exhibition, highlighting the outstanding talents of the Golden Bear student-athletes.
The final Oski of the night honored the top performance of the evening. Grace Leer of women's soccer out-shined a stellar collection of acts to take home the Oski with her performance of Adele's "Someone Like You" that drew a standing ovation from the crowd.
Other award winners included Derek Van Rheenan (Professor of the Year), Mohamed "Mo" Muqtar (Staff Member of the Year) and women's gymnastics (Video of the Year).
The second annual Oskis was a tremendous success and a great night for the student-athletes to receive some well-deserved honors. We will have photos and some video of the evening's performances tomorrow on the blog.
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