SAN FRANCISCO -- For the second consecutive year, Academy of Art University took a short break from studying for finals to enjoy everything they already accomplished with the ARTY Awards, an end-of-the-year banquet honoring all of the artist-athletes, their coaches, and the entire ART U family for their performances this past 2014-15 season. Urban Knights from all 16 teams united for a glamorous night of celebration.
"Last year, we decided that we needed to find a way for our artist-athletes to come together as a whole and celebrate their achievements on the field, off the field, in the classroom, and in the community," said Director of Athletics Colin Preston. "The hardest part is figuring out how we're going to nominate our student-athletes and teams because so many great things happened over the course of the year."
Kicking off the evening were two new additions to the program. The tireless efforts of Jan Yanehiro and Steve Kotton from the School of Multimedia Communications shared the honor of Director of the Year while an average of 17.9 community service hours for each athlete from women's basketball made them winners of the Community Service Award.
"The ARTYs ceremony has officially become an annual tradition celebrating the great accomplishments that the Academy of Art University Urban Knights earned this academic year," said Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator Meghan Bushnell. "In efforts to honor the three aspects of Division II (academics, athletics, community service), we added a new category 'Community Engagement' in which our women's basketball team won due to their efforts in creating a mentoring partnership with Redding Elementary School."
From the community to the classroom, the academic spotlight shined on Natalie Gabriel from women's soccer as recipient of Highest Individual GPA in the School of Fine Art.
Men's track & field/cross country earned multiple honors with Jordan Edwards' Record-Breaking Performance at NCAA Indoor Nationals being recognized along with Newcomer of the Year Valentin Pepiot, who became the second male cross country athlete ever to compete at NCAA Cross Country Nationals. Edwards was later named Most Valuable Male Athlete while NCAA Nationals qualifier Crystal Wang of women's golf earned Most Valuable Female Athlete. Additionally, new this year was the category of Best Play by each team as voted on by the artist-athletes themselves. These ranged from Réa Laudat's last-second goal to defeat BYU-Hawaii in double overtime to Nick Cary's buzzer-beating basket versus Chaminade to women's tennis fighting back to triumph over Hawaii Pacific in the Pacific West Conference Championship Tournament.
"The ARTYs was an amazing and inspiring event," said softball head coach Sonja Garnett. "There were some huge accomplishments this year. What Jordan Edwards, women's golf, and tennis did this year was enough to give you goosebumps. Every program had outstanding highlights and it was great to see each of those recognized."
The honors of Freshman of the Year and Urban Knight of the Year both went to softball with Brenna Mitchell and Haily MacDonald representing the impressive start and legendary end of two memorable careers. Mitchell completed 2015 as the program's first 20-game winner, was All-PacWest Third Team, and led the PacWest in both innings pitched and strikeouts. MacDonald demonstrated the epitome of an artist-athlete, earning All-PacWest First Team along with setting numerous program records (triples, stolen bases, runs scored) all while maintaining a 3.37 GPA and devoting double-digit hours to the community.
"It was an honor to see our program recognized this year at the ARTYs," said Garnett. "Haily MacDonald has set the standard for our program through her athletic talents and extracurricular and academic achievements. Earning 'Urban Knight of the Year' was a huge accomplishment for her and a testament to the person she is. Brenna Mitchell was a workhorse for us this year and kept us in a lot of ball games. As a freshman, her composure and competitiveness in the circle kept the team confident."
Softball was also highlighted in a tight race for Coach of the Year with Sonja Garnett earning the honor after guiding the program to its first winning season since 2011, matching the program's most All-PacWest honors, and setting multiple records along the way.
"It means the world to me that athletes and peers voted me as Coach of the Year," said Garnett. "As coaches, we have a unique job in which we work hard to position ourselves for success, yet when it matters most, we hand the fate of our success to our athletes. We have to trust them and ask them to trust us. I thank them for trusting our vision and staying committed to the program."
A trio of awards went to the entire women's tennis team, not only for the achievements in the classroom (Highest Team GPA), but also on the court. Tennis took home the honor of Best Moment with the aforementioned victory over HPU and, having posted their highest PacWest finish to date in addition to hosting NCAA Regionals for the first time ever, tennis was named Team of the Year.
"This year we set high goals both on the court and academically so to be able to be honored in both of these areas is just so exciting and rewarding for my team," said head coach
Nicole Briceño-Garzón. "The ARTYs celebration was such a special night and experience because the entire athletic department had a chance to honor the athletes for not only their accomplishments athletically and academically, but also in the community which I find very important and unique."
As the program reached its crescendo, two more awards debuted with a focus on servant leadership, embracing one's responsibility to serve as a positive role model for others in all aspects of life. The gender-specific honors were named after two individuals dedicated to this concept, inaugural Director of Athletics Dr. Jamie Williams and Bushnell, though she had not been made aware until the night came. The surprise was accented by a full standing ovation recognizing the tremendous work she has done with Academy of Art the past five years. This year,
Brady Fiero from men's soccer was bestowed the
Dr. Jamie Williams Male Servant Leadership Award and
Sierra Sanchez from women's golf was selected for the
Meghan Bushnell Female Servant Leadership Award."From our inception, Dr. Williams instilled a culture of servant leadership to the Urban Knight family and I took the onus in continuing this type of leadership to the artist-athletes and the ART U staff," said Bushnell. "
Brady Fiero and
Sierra Sanchez are the epitome of servant leaders and have made a lasting legacy within our athletic department due to their determination, selflessness, and pride in being ART U artist-athletes. Personally, it's an incredible honor to have my name associated with the Female Servant Leadership award. I thank
Colin Preston for starting this tradition and Dr. Williams for educating the Urban Knight family on the importance of servant leadership. The ARTYs ceremony was a special night and a great sendoff to close my chapter at ART U. Thank you to the Urban Knight family for serving as my family over the past five years and believing in our 'Be Artist. Be Athlete.' mantra."
Full list of ARTYs winners below:
| Director of the Year | Jan Yanehiro & Steve Kotton (Multimedia Communications) |
| Fifth Year of the Year | Melissa Genao (WG) |
| Community Service Award | Women's Basketball |
| Best Individual GPA | Natalie Gabriel (WSOC) |
| Best Team GPA | Women's Tennis |
| Record-Breaking Performance | Jordan Edwards' program record in the indoor 200m at NCAA Nationals & becoming six-time All-American |
| Best Moment | Women's Tennis defeating Hawaii Pacific to advance to Pacific West Conference Championship finals |
| Freshman of the Year | Brenna Mitchell (SB) |
| Newcomer of the Year | Valentin Pepiot (MXC) |
| Coach of the Year | Sonja Garnett (SB) |
| Male Team MVPs | Valentin Pepiot (MXC), Kristof Urbanyi (MSOC), Herman Pratt IV (MBB),
Nate Gercken (BASE), Alberto "Dago" Esponda (MG), Jordan Edwards (MTRK) |
| Male Individual Athlete of the Year | Jordan Edwards (MTRK) |
| Female Team MVPs | Réa Laudat (WSOC), Brittany Ulmer (VB), McKaela Christenson (WXC), Jasmin Guinn (WBB),
Haily MacDonald (SB), Crystal Wang (WG), Jenny Johansson (WT), Keanna Moody (WTRK) |
| Female Individual Athlete of the Year | Crystal Wang (WG) |
| Urban Knight of the Year | Haily MacDonald (SB) |
Dr. Jamie Williams Male Servant
Leadership Award | Brady Fiero (MSOC) |
Meghan Bushnell Female Servant
Leadership Award | Sierra Sanchez (WG) |
| Team of the Year | Women's Tennis |
