RUSTON – Louisiana Tech Athletics celebrated its top individual and team accomplishments from the past year on Monday night inside the Thomas Assembly Center at the 8th annual Techspys.
 
The year-end "ESPY Awards"-style event highlighted all of the academic and athletic accomplishments of LA Tech student-athletes.  The show featured 16 awards as well as the Tenets of Tech winners, which are given to the student-athletes in each program that best exemplify the 12 guiding principles in which Tech students should possess.
 
Male Presidential Award presented by University President Dr. Les Guice
Steele Netterville (BASEBALL) – The 2021 CoSIDA Academic All-American has a 3.92 GPA while majoring in Biology with a Chemistry minor.  Despite missing 10 games due to injury last season, he ranked second on the team with 12 home runs, third in RBIs with 57 and fourth in doubles with 14.  He had 17 multi-hit games and 15 multi-RBI games while also earning Conference USA All-Tournament Team honors.
 
Female Presidential Award presented by University President Dr. Les Guice
Riley Killian (TRACK & FIELD/CROSS COUNTRY) – The 2022 C-USA Academic Medalist and Commissioner's Honor Roll recipient has a 3.78 GPA while majoring in Chemical Engineering.  She competed at the NCAA South-Central Regional meet in cross country and broke the school record in the 3K at the Conference USA Indoor Track & Field Championships with a time of 10:09.02, which was the 23rd fastest time on the track.
 
Male Performance of the Year
Sam Murphy (GOLF) – Shot a three-round tournament total of 13-under-par 203 to capture the individual title at the 2021 Jim Rivers Intercollegiate at Squire Creek Country Club.  His 13-under-par total tied for the lowest three-round individual score in the history of the event.
 
Female Performance of the Year
Danielle Jedlicki (BOWLING) – Was named Tournament MVP after finishing first individually with a total pinfall of 1,505 at the SWIBC.  The junior bowled the first perfect game in LA Tech history while helping lead the team to its first tournament victory of the 2021-22 season.
 
Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year
Taylor Young (BASEBALL) – Was named an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove award winner and C-USA's Defensive Player of the Year a season ago, sporting a .993 fielding percentage at second base.  He also earned First Team All-Conference USA and Collegiate Baseball Third Team All-America honors after leading the league in runs scored with 83 and ranking in the top 10 in the conference in hits, walks, on-base percentage and total bases.
 
Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year
Keiunna Walker (WBB) – Was selected First Team All-Conference USA this past season while helping lead the Lady Techsters to the C-USA West Division title and a WNIT appearance.  Her season was highlighted by reaching 1,000 career points and posting the fourth ever triple-double in program history.
 
Male True Freshman of the Year
Kaleb Stewart (MBB) – Was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team this past season.  He ended up averaging 3.2 points per game while also having a 2.09 assist/turnover ratio.  His best performances included a 10-point effort at NC State and a season-high 12 points against LSU-Shreveport.
 
Female True Freshman of the Year
McKenzie Johnson (VOLLEYBALL) – Was named Second Team All-Conference USA and was a member of the C-USA All-Freshman Team this past season, accumulating a team-high 445 digs with an average of 5.24 digs per set, a mark that shattered the previous single season school record.  The libero registered double-digit digs in 23 of the 24 matches played in.
 
Male Newcomer of the Year
Tripp Marcus (TRACK & FIELD) – Finished in the top three in all five of his competitions this past season.  He broke LA Tech's school record in the javelin at the Leon Johnson NSU Invitational with a first-place have of 72.51m.  He finished third at the C-USA Outdoor Championships while also qualifying for the NCAA East Regionals.
 
Female Newcomer of the Year
Patricia Rosales (BOWLING) – Was named to two All-Tournament teams in her first season at LA Tech.  She helped lead the team to a top-five national ranking while also qualifying for the National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championships and the USBC National Championships.  Her play in the Arlington Regional helped propel the team to an Elite Eight finish in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Male Play of the Year
Manny Garcia (BASEBALL) – In the second game of a Sunday doubleheader against rival Southern Miss, the Bulldogs found themselves down a run going into the bottom half of the ninth inning.  With a runner on and two outs, he blasted a walk-off, two-run homer to defeat the Golden Eagles, 7-6, at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.
 
Female Play of the Year
Allie Leiendecker (BOWLING) – Playing against previously undefeated North Carolina A&T at the Music City Classic, she secured a walk-off two-pin win by bowling a 268, which included six straight strikes to end the game.
 
Moment of the Year
Keiunna Walker/Anna Larr Roberson (WBB) – The duo became the first pair of DI teammates in 20 seasons to have a 40-point scorer and a 20-point triple-double in the same game.  They joined LeBron James and Kyrie Irving along with Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook as only the third set of teammates in the NBA, WNBA and men's or women's DI history to have a 40-point game and a 25-15-10 triple-double stat line.
 
Team of the Year
Baseball – Fans knew something special was happening at LA Tech after the Diamond 'Dogs defeated the No. 1 team in the country in Arkansas, followed by a 13-1 demolishing of 4th-ranked Ole Miss.  The team kept up that momentum, going 22-8 in league play to earn a C-USA West Division title.  After reaching the C-USA Tournament Championship game, the program made history by being named one of the 16 NCAA Regional host sites for the Division I Baseball Championship.
 
Community Service Award
Volleyball
 
GPA Award
Women's Cross Country
 
Tenets of Tech Winners
Women's Basketball – Robyn Lee
Men's Basketball – Cobe Williams
Soccer – Josie Studer
Baseball – Taylor Young, Cade Gibson
Softball – Kara Goff
Tennis – Leonie Schuknecht
Golf – Blake Blaser
Volleyball – Ainsley Yanz
Bowling – Lindsay Manning
Men's Track & Field – Tripp Marcus
Women's Track & Field – Riley Killian
Football – Deshon Hall, Jaiden Cole, Smoke Harris, Joshua Mote