May 4, 2003

MILWAUKEE - Basketball star Clay Tucker and volleyball standout Tari Boutin have been named the UWM/Coca-Cola Athletes of the Year.

The pair was honored along with a number of UWM student-athletes at the annual University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student-Athlete Awards Reception, held today in the Wisconsin Room of the UWM Student Union.

Tucker led the UWM men's basketball team to the Horizon League Tournament title and its first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament. He finished his UWM career as the school's all-time leading scorer and also topped the charts in steald and three-point field goals. He was the 2003 Horizon League Tournament MVP and a First-Team All-Horizon League selection.

Boutin bounced back from an early-season injury to win Horizon League Player of the Year honors and lead the Panthers to their fifth-straight NCAA Tournament berth. After missing the first 15 matches of the season, Boutin returned from a broken hand to help UWM finish second in the league during the regular season before sweeping through the post-season tournament.

Seniors Peter Clark (swimming and diving) and Mary Duffy (women's soccer) received the prestigious Herman Kluge Senior Athlete Awards. The Kluge awards are given to the top male and female senior student-athletes. Meanwhile, Sarah Caldwell of the swimming and diving team won the Athletic Director's Award for having the highest cumulative grade-point average in the department.

The women's basketball and men's swimming and diving teams were honored for recording the highest grade-point averages in the athletic department while the volleyball team won the Horizon League Community Outreach Award for the second year in a row.

Other honorees included Justin Lettenberger winning the Dexter Reisch Memorial Scholarship Award (men's basketball), Tighe Dombrowski winning the John Fetzer Memorial Award (men's soccer) and Erin Shaughnessy claiming the Laura Moynihan Memorial Scholarship (women's soccer).

Student-athletes, coaches and team that won awards from the Horizon League or other organizations throughout the year were also recognized during the ceremony.