July 8, 2004

DETROIT - Wayne State University Director of Athletics Rob Fournier announced today the 2003-04 Male and Female EDS/Student-Athletes of the Year. Candidates were judged on academic distinction, athletic accomplishments, individual involvement and University and community service, as well as coaches recommendation.

Senior hockey player Kim Spaulding (Farmington Hills, Mich./Harrison) and junior swimmer David Lutz (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester Adams) were selected as the 2003-04 female and male student-athletes of the year after being nominated by their respective coaches with voting by the athletic department's coaches and administrative staff.

"In a long list of deserving candidates, the accomplishments of Kim and David are singular," said Fournier. "Both have excelled in the classroom, achieved acclaim competitively in leading two successful programs and willingly given of their time in community projects. With both Kim and David representing the EDS Award, they promote to contemporaries and the public the best of WSU athletics."

Spaulding served as an assistant captain this past year with the women's hockey team and was named to the CHA All-Academic team both years of the league. She played in all 34 games in 2003-04 and set personal-bests for goals, assists and points in a season. Spaulding holds the school record for games played at 125 and scored two goals including team's first short-handed goal of the season Jan. 3 vs. Union for a three-game goal-scoring streak. She earned the team's President's Award for academic success for the third straight year and was named to the Women's College Hockey All-America First Team by the Jewish Sports Review.

An elementary education major, Spaulding was named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term gpa 3.5+) six times. She served as the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) this past school year.

Lutz (pictured left) helped led the Warrior men's swimming program to its second consecutive GLIAC title and a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championship. A CoSIDA Academic All-District College Division Men's At-Large First Team selection, he earned a total of five All-America honors (one first team/200 back, one honorable mention/500 free and three honorable mention/relays) at the NCAA Championship by placing seventh in the 200 back (1:50.87), 11th in the 500 free (4:36.79), T-18th in the 100 back (51.77) and 24th in the 200 free (1:43.20). Lutz also competed in three relays at the NCAA Championships and his quartet placed 10th in the 400 medley, 14th in the 800 free and 14th in the 200 medley. He won two individual events (200 back and 500 free) at the GLIAC Championship and was a member of the champion 400 medley relay team which set a GLIAC championship record. Lutz was named to the GLIAC All-Academic team for the second consecutive year.

A civil engineering major, Lutz has been named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term gpa 3.5+) four times.

This is the third year EDS has sponsored the WSU Student-Athlete of the Year award. The 2001-02 honorees were softball player Kelly Kashmerick and hockey player David Guerrera, while last year's recipients were cross country runner Shelly Vickery and hockey player Dustin Kingston.