By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Whitney Randall, a senior women’s basketball student-athlete at Fort Hays State University, is the 2021 MIAA Women’s Winter Student-Athlete of the Year. Kizan David, a senior track and field student-athlete from Lincoln University, is the 2021 MIAA Men’s Winter Student-Athlete of the Year. The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association announced both honors on Thursday (Apr. 15), presented by Summit Pointe Financial Group.
This award temporarily replaces the annual Ken B. Jones Award, which normally recognizes the top female and top male student-athlete in the MIAA for all seasons. However, since fall sports did not have an opportunity to post accolades for this academic year, the MIAA COVID-19 Task Force implemented student-athlete of the year honors for both the winter and spring seasons with the nomination and selection process structured identically to the Ken B. Jones Award. Randall and David received the most votes from a 13-member panel of conference administrators. They were among five women’s and five men’s finalists announced on April 7th by the MIAA office.
The award is based on the athletic, academic, and campus/community service accomplishments of individuals. The voting committee reviews an individual’s career academic accomplishments, along with their athletic accomplishments and campus/community service from the 2020-21 year. Individuals must be a junior or senior in athletic eligibility and have a GPA of at least 3.25.
Female finalists alongside Randall were Hunter Bentley of Washburn, Ashlan Burton of Central Missouri, Kelsey Johnson of Central Oklahoma, and Trace Mosby of Pittsburg State.
Male finalists alongside David were Tyler Geiman of Washburn, Chris Goodwin of Central Missouri, Trey Mooney of Pittsburg State, and Jared Vitztum of Fort Hays State.
Randall joins Kate Lehman, former FHSU Women’s Basketball student-athlete, as the only two individuals from Fort Hays State University to receive an MIAA Student-Athlete of the Year or Ken B. Jones Award. Lehman was the women’s Ken B. Jones Award recipient in 2015.
Whitney Randall – Fort Hays State University, Women’s Basketball
Randall was an All-MIAA First Team selection in 2021, helping FHSU Women’s Basketball to the MIAA Regular Season Championship and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Central Regional of the NCAA Tournament. She helped the Tigers to their sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the last seven years, while leading the team in scoring (15.0 points per game). She scored in double figures in 21 of 26 games and reached at least 20 points in a game five times. During the 2020-21 season, she became the 22nd player in FHSU Women’s Basketball program history to reach 1,000 career points at FHSU, now with 1,033.
Randall has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA over four years of college as a Health & Human Performance major at FHSU, with an emphasis in Teaching and Coaching. The Alva, Oklahoma native is a four-time recipient of the MIAA Academic Excellence Award and received the MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award this season for gaining All-MIAA honors on the court.
Off the court, Randall has volunteered her time with Tiger Pals and Night to Shine in Hays, while also serving as a Christian camp counselor. She has also been on three international mission trips in her time at FHSU to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Canada.
Kizan David – Lincoln University, Men’s Indoor Track and Field
Kizan David claimed the individual national title in the Indoor long jump back in mid-March. He also scored a second-place national finish in the triple jump. An All-American in both events, David also won the triple jump and finished as the runner-up in the long jump at the MIAA Indoor Championships, and earned two USTFCCCA All-Region awards in 2021. David led the country in the triple jump and was fifth nationally in the long jump entering the NCAA Division II Championships.
David has excelled in the classroom during his time at Lincoln, where he is a member of the university’s honor society. David was selected to the CoSIDA/Google Cloud Academic All-America First Team and the CoSIDA/Google Cloud Academic All-District First Team in both 2019 and 2020. He is a five-time recipient of the MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award, maintaining a 3.959 GPA as a Computer Information Systems major. David has spent several years serving as a Lincoln University Peer Tutor, and this year helped distribute food to the elderly in the Jefferson City community. He has also served as a volunteer cricket instructor for local children, and volunteered at several University of Missouri football games.