Hawkeye Athletics release/edited
09/20/21
University of Iowa sophomore Caitlin Clark and former Hawkeye Luka Garza are one of 38 athletes selected as finalists for the AAU James E. Sullivan Award. This honor is the only national award that puts the best in sports, male and female, head-to-head for the title of “top athlete,” and has been presented annually since 1930.
Voting for the award is open to the public at aausullivan.org for the next week. Finalist voting closes at the end of the day Monday, Sept. 27th.
During her freshman campaign, Clark averaged 26.6 points in 30 games this season, breaking the Iowa freshman record. That’s also the fourth-highest points per game in single-season in Iowa history, men’s or women’s. Clark also scored more points than anyone in either program in NCAA Division 1.
Last month, Clark won her third gold medal and was named the FIBA U19 World Cup Most Valuable Player. The USA Team Captain amassed 100 points, 39 assists, 37 rebounds, seven steals, and six blocks in seven contests.
Garza, who graduated in May with an Economics degree, swept all major postseason men’s basketball player of the year awards in 2021, including the Wooden, Naismith, Associated Press, Oscar Robertson, NABC, Lute Olson, and Sporting News. He’s Iowa Basketball’s first consensus National Player of the Year. He became the first Hawkeye men’s basketball player to earn the Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year award, and his 24.1 points per game ranked him second nationally.
His 747 points in 2021 broke his own single-season school record set the previous year. Garza also broke Iowa’s 32-year-old scoring record held by Roy Marble in February. His 2,306 career points ranks him seventh best in Big Ten history. Garza was a second-round pick by the Detroit Pistons in the 2021 NBA Draft.
Last year, the AAU crowned co-winners; University of Iowa wrestler Spencer Lee, and Sabrina Ionescu of the University of Oregon.
The Sullivan Award presentation will be held in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 22nd.
