VERMILLION, S.D. — Senior basketball player Ciara Duffy and senior track and field star Chris Nilsen receive the top honors as South Dakota Athletes of the Year announced Friday in a digital version of The Charlies, the athletics annual award ceremony that was moved online this year amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Duffy picks up the Catie Tobin Female Athlete of the Year award. Duffy averaged 16.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and five assists per game this season. She graduates as the only player in program history with more than 1,700 points, 600 rebounds and 400 assists. Duffy finishes third on USD’s career scoring charts with 1,793 points. Nilsen takes home the Dr. John Van Why Male Athlete of the Year award for the third time in his four years. A three-time NCAA Champion, Nilsen broke the NCAA indoor pole vault record this season by vaulting 19 feet, 5 ½ inches (5.93m). Nilsen was named the 2020 USTFCCCA National Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, becoming the first Coyote to receive such national recognition in the Division I era.
In addition, Senior volleyball standout Anne Rasmussen and senior swimming and diving member Josh Sorbe have been named the South Dakota Scholar Athletes of the Year announced Thursday in a digital version of The Charlies, the athletics annual award ceremony that was moved online this year thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Rasmussen, who carries a 3.94 GPA in kinesiology and sport management, was a three-time All-Summit League honoree during her four-year career. Sorbe, who carries a 4.0 GPA in economics and political science, was a four-year contributor to the Coyote swimming and diving teams. Sorbe, a 2019 Truman Scholar and past student body president, provided team points in three events each at the Summit League Championships in all four seasons he competed.
