Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Wayne State University Athletics

Student-Athletes of the Year

Men's Tennis Henry Coyle, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Drenth and Giroux Voted 2024-25 WSU Student-Athletes of the Year

DETROIT -- Wayne State University Director of Athletics Erika Wallace has announced the 2024-25 Male and Female 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.

The voting was held in June of 2025.

Senior men's tennis player Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany) and junior volleyball player Kayla Giroux (Flat Rock, Mich.) were selected as the 2024-25 male and female Student-Athletes of the Year after being nominated by their respective coaches with voting by the athletic department's coaches and administrative staff. 

Drenth is now the fifth person to receive the award multiple times, joining men's swimming standout David Lutz (2003-04, 2004-05), diver Erika Barczak (2005-06, 2007-08), softball national player of the year Lyndsay Butler (2015-16, 2016-17), and women's swimmer Jordan Fox (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia / Mentone Grammar).

During the 2024-25 campaign, Drenth paced the Wayne State men's tennis squad with 24 singles victories (24-10) and 25 triumphs in doubles (25-8) while competing in the No. 1 position in both.  Thanks to his efforts, he was the 56th-ranked singles player in the nation and was the No. 5-ranked singles player in the Midwest Region according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).  On the doubles side, he and his partner George Day were viewed as the No. 32-ranked pairing nationally, while appearing fourth in the Midwest.  Drenth was voted the 2025 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Men's Tennis Athlete of the Year for the second time and earned First Team All-GLIAC nods for both singles and doubles.  He is first all-time in both doubles victories (122) and singles victories (106), while being the only WSU tennis player to eclipse over 100 in both.  He was tabbed as an All-American by the ITA three times, including finishing the 2023-24 season as the No. 1-ranked doubles team with partner Daniel Grey.

As a Finance major, he was named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term GPA 3.5+) all eight semesters, including six terms with a 4.00 GPA.  Drenth was a member of the WSU Student-Athlete Leadership Council and was an inductee into WSU's inaugural (2024-25) Chi Alpha Sigma Athlete Honor Society class.  He became WSU's first two-time College Sports Communicators (CSC, formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-American of the Year and is one of 22 Wayne State student-athletes to be a two-time recipient of the GLIAC Commissioner's Award.  The Sulzbach, Germany, native was a three-time recipient of the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award.

Giroux became Wayne State volleyball's fifth All-American (first since 2010) after being named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Second Team in 2024.  She garnered All-Region First Team honors by the AVCA, Second Team recognition by the Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) and tallied her third consecutive First Team All-GLIAC nod.  During the 2024 campaign, Giroux contributed 370 kills and 112 total blocks (20 solo).  Her hitting percentage of .404 ranked first in the conference and ninth nationally, breaking the previous WSU single-season record of .3538, which she set her sophomore season.  She was also 39th in Division II for points per set (4.36), 64th in total blocks (112), 66th in kills per set (3.59), 70th in blocks per set (1.09) and 72nd in total kills (370).  

The Flat Rock, Mich., native earned a bachelor's degree in Global Supply Chain Management in three-and-a-half years with a 3.99 cumulative GPA.  She has been named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term GPA 3.5+) all seven semesters, including six terms with a 4.00 GPA and was inducted into WSU's inaugural (2024-25) Chi Alpha Sigma Athlete Honor Society class.  Giroux was a recipient of the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award, was a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Second Team Academic All-American (the first in program history) and was named to the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team for the second straight year.

====================================================

This is the 22nd year of the WSU Student-Athlete of the Year award since two years were skipped (2019-20 and 2020-21) due to reduced athletic competition because of COVID.

The first recipients in 2001-02 were softball outfielder Kelly Kashmerick and hockey goalie David Guerrera, while cross country runner Shelly Vickery and hockey forward Dustin Kingston were the 2002-03 honorees.  The first four honorees have since been inducted into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame. 

The 2003-04 student-athletes of the year were women's hockey forward 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, while the 2006-07 recipients were Anna Garina, a national champion fencer, and Kris Krzyminski, an All-American basketball player.

All-American baseball pitcher Anthony Bass and Barczak were selected following the 2007-08 school year, with swimmers Ashley St.Andrew and Sean Smith being voted for the 2008-09 season.  Softball pitcher Casey Hanes and swimmer Cauli Bedran were the 2009-10 recipients, while baseball catcher Mike Wiseman and tennis student-athlete Sharon Gill were honored following the 2010-11 school year.  A pair of All-Americans, swimmer Catherine Leix and football running back Josh Renel, were selected as the 2011-12 Student-Athletes of the Year.  Leix helped lead the swimmers to a national title, while Renel's play helped the football team participate in the national championship game.  Barczak, Bass, St.Andrew, Smith, Hanes, Bedran, Wiseman, Gill, Leix and Renel have all been inducted into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame.

The 2012-13 recipients were eight-time diving All-American Carly Sevald, and men's basketball student-athlete Ian Larkin.  Larkin was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District selection as well as a 2012 GLIAC Commissioner's Award recipient.  He was only the third player in 96 years of WSU basketball to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocked shots.  Both Larkin and Sevald were inducted into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.

The 2013-14 awards went to softball outfielder Logan White and men's diver Dylan Szegedi.  White was named to the NFCA All-Midwest Region Second Team for the third straight season and was a three-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team selection.  An eight-time All-American, Szegedi was a two-time GLIAC Male Diver of the Year and was the national champion on the three-meter board with a school record score of 587.65.  White was a 2020 WSU Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, while Szegedi was selected in 2021 (ceremony held in 2022 due to COVID).

The 2014-15 recipients were women's basketball standout Shareta Brown and football All-American Nores Fradi.  Brown was the consensus NCAA Division II National Player of the Year after averaging 22.0 points per game, and leading the country in rebounds per contest (14.7) and field goal percentage (64.9%).  Fradi was the GLIAC Defensive Back of the Year (linebackers and defensive backs) and led Division II with 28.5 tackles for loss (24 solo, 9 assisted) during the regular season to earn AFCA All-America Team honors.  Brown was inducted the same year as Szegedi.

In 2015-16, men's swimmer Ben Winn and softball player Lyndsay Butler were the honorees, while Butler and men's basketball forward Michael Lewis were the recipients for the 2016-17 academic year.  Lewis spent the entire 2016-17 academic year in graduate school, while Butler earned her bachelor's degree in December of 2016 and was inducted into the WSU Hall of Fame in October of 2023.

Men's fencing national runner-up Ziad Elsissy and track All-American Karrington Seals were the 2017-18 honorees, while All-American baseball pitcher Hunter Brown and diving All-American Amanda Hurchalla were the 2018-19 recipients.  The 2021-22 honorees were swimmer Jordan Fox and men's tennis standout Dom Spicer, while the 2022-23 recipients were diving All-American Mikaela Senkus and men's tennis Academic All-American of the Year Cedric Drenth.  Elsissy and Seals were both inducted into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2024.

Men's tennis All-American Daniel Grey and 21-time All-America women's swimming honoree Jordan Fox earned the awards following the 2023-24 academic year.

In fact, of the first 18 years of the award (33 recipients since Lutz, Barczak and Butler are two-time honorees), 26 have been selected for induction into the Wayne State Athletic Hall of Fame.
 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Cedric Drenth

Cedric Drenth

6' 3"
Senior
Kayla Giroux

#11 Kayla Giroux

MB
6' 1"
Senior
George Day

George Day

6' 5"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Cedric Drenth

Cedric Drenth

6' 3"
Senior
Kayla Giroux

#11 Kayla Giroux

6' 1"
Senior
MB
George Day

George Day

6' 5"
Sophomore