Sept. 24, 2007
Wayne State University Director of Athletics Rob Fournier announced today the 2006-07 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 fencer Anna Garina (Kiev, Ukraine) and senior basketball player Kris Krzyminski (Flint, Mich./Central) were selected as the 2006-07 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.
"The EDS student-athlete of the year represents the best of a group of over 400 talented young men and women and Anna and Kris certainly embody the best of our teams. It is rare when a student-athlete is three times a national champion and a runner-up the other year. It is hard to top that athletic performance and Anna certainly further solidified the national reputation of our fencing team. Kris was a leader both academically and athletically. The title All-American for both Anna and Kris celebrates the best of what we hope for in not just student-athletes but all students at the University. They are truly fine selections in a year in which we had our highest national finish in the NACDA cup standings."
Garina (pictured left) is only the fourth woman in NCAA fencing history to have won back-to-back NCAA titles and the first in women's epeé. She is also the first women epeeist in NCAA history to win three national titles (2004, 2005 and 2007), and was the national runner-up in 2006. Garina compiled a 62-7 mark in the NCAA finals round-robin competition in the three years of her individual national titles and a 16-7 mark in her second-place finish of 2006.
She graduated this past May with a degree in accounting and is a candidate for the NCAA Inspiration Award which honors a coach, administrator or current or former varsity student-athlete from an NCAA member school who showed perseverance, dedication and determination in overcoming a life-altering situation and now serves as a role model to others facing similar circumstances. Garina underwent thyroid cancer surgery in September 2006 but returned to school and the fencing team eventually winning her third national title.
Krzyminski was selected to the 2006-07 Division II Bulletin Honorable Mention All-American team, the Daktronics Great Lakes Region First Team and the NABC Great Lakes Region Second Team after leading WSU in scoring 19 times. A GLIAC South Division Second Team honoree in 2005-06, he moved up to the first team in 2006-07. In his two years in the Green and Gold, Krzyminski scored 973 points while starting all 51 games. He broke the school record for three-pointers made in a season with 83 despite ranking only sixth in three-pointers attempted (164) in a year.
A 2007 GLIAC All-Academic team selection, he made the athletic academic honor roll all four semesters at WSU. Kris was voted to the 2006-07 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team. This past year, his 620 points was the fourth best single-season total in school history, while his 23.8 scoring average ranks third for a season in WSU history.
This is the sixth year EDS has sponsored the WSU Student-Athlete of the Year award. The first year recipients were softball player Kelly Kashmerick and hockey player David Guerrera, while cross country runner Shelly Vickery and hockey player Dustin Kingston were the 2002-03 honorees. The 2003-04 student-athletes of the year were women's hockey player Kim Spaulding and swimmer David Lutz. Lutz became the first two-time winner in 2004-05 along with Anna Vinnikov, a member of the women's fencing squad. The 2005-06 recipients were diver Erika Barczak and swimmer Nick Ingrao.
