DETROIT -- Wayne State University Director of Athletics Erika Wallace announced the 2025-26 Men's Sports and Women's Sports Student-Athletes of the Year at the 2026 Golden W's event held this past week at the Masonic Temple in downtown Detroit.  Candidates were judged on academic distinction, athletic accomplishments, individual involvement and University and community service, as well as coaches' recommendation.

This year's two recipients are senior volleyball middle blocker Kayla Giroux (Flat Rock, Mich.) and senior baseball third baseman Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.).

Giroux is now the sixth 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), women's swimmer Jordan Fox (2021-22, 2023-24), and men's tennis All-American Cedric Drenth (2022-23, 2024-25).

Not only did Giroux excel on the court, she was unmatched in the classroom.  She garnered her second consecutive GLIAC Commissioner's Award for academic and athletic excellence and was honored as a College Sports Communicators (CSC) First Team Academic All-American.  Giroux earned a bachelor's degree in Global Supply Chain Management in three-and-a-half years with a 3.99 cumulative GPA.  She was a nominee for the 2025 Allstate NACDA Fall Good Works Team for her community service work.

On the volleyball court, the Flat Rock, Mich., native was crowned as the first two-time All-American in program history as she was featured on both the AVCA First Team and D2CCA First Team (WSU's first ever First Team honoree for either organization).  The 2025 GLIAC Player of the Year, Giroux was the 2025 GLIAC Tournament MVP and was named to the 2025 NCAA Midwest Region All-Tournament Team.  She finished the year with 447 kills on 915 attempts for a .391 hitting percentage, along with 124 blocks (18 solo, 106 assisted) and 60 digs.

Hatzigeorgiou was the 2025-26 Deans' Award honoree from the James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering for having the highest cumulative grade-point average among all student-athletes in that particular college.  A Biomedical Engineering major, he has earned a spot on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term GPA 3.5+) all seven semesters and was inducted into WSU's inaugural (2024-25) Chi Alpha Sigma Athlete Honor Society class.  The 2024 CSC Academic All-District honoree, Hatzigeorgiou will be a three-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team selection.

On the diamond, the Oxford, Mich., native was the 2023 GLIAC Freshman of the Year, and was also voted to the 2023 GLIAC All-Tournament Team.  He started 44 games as a sophomore and hit .312 with 27 RBI.  In his junior campaign, Hatzigeorgiou made 43 starts and drove in 22 runs.  The three-year team captain, he has played in over 190 games (starting 165 times) with 96 career RBI.

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This is the 23rd 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.  Lutz, Barczak, Ingrao, Garina and Krzyminski have all been inducted into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame.

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.  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.  The 2024-25 recipients were Drenth and Giroux.

In fact, of the first 19 years of the award (35 recipients since Lutz, Barczak and Butler are two-time honorees), 26 have been selected for induction into the Wayne State Athletic Hall of Fame.