FULL LIST OF 2021-22 GOLDEN EAGLE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE AWARD RECIPIENTS
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (April 14, 2022) – For the first time in three years, NAU Athletics celebrated the department's student-athletes with an in-person Golden Eagle Awards Wednesday evening at High Country Conference Center. The 44th annual Golden Eagle Awards presented by Ginny L. Clements was highlighted by Cross Country/Track & Field's Theo Quax, Women's Basketball's Lauren Orndoff and Golf's Elle Kocourkova earning the night's top honors.
Quax was selected as the Top Male Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete, while Orndoff and Kocourkova shared the Top Female Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete honor. A total of 240 Lumberjack student-athletes were recognized in all.
The Golden Eagle Awards was first presented in the spring of 1979 as a way of honoring student-athletes who maintained high levels of scholastic achievement while performing with distinction in the university's athletic programs. All Lumberjacks holding a minimum of a 3.00 cumulative grade point average or better are eligible for the award, presented to student-athletes who have made significant contributions in athletics as well as in the classroom.
Quax has run at two NCAA Cross Country National Championships in his career, placing 151st (32:20.3) in 2019 and 114th (30:19.0) in 2021. He also placed 18th at the 2019 Big Sky Cross Country Championships, and has eight career top eight individual finishes at the conference indoor and outdoor track & field meets.
Currently ranked 15th in the 5K and 33rd in the 800-meter in the NCAA West Region, Quax is enjoying a successful outdoor season so far. During the recently completed indoor season, Quax placed fourth and seventh respectively in the 800-meter and mile at the Big Sky Championships and ran on NAU's gold medal winning DMR team.
The distance runner out of Auckland, New Zealand has earned six Big Sky All-Academic honors and has been named to the USTFCCCA track & field all-academic list twice. Carrying a 3.71 cumulative GPA in civil engineering, his grade point average has factored into two USTFCCCA Scholar Team of the Year awards in 2020 and 2021.
Orndoff, out of Medford, Ore., is on track to graduate with her master's degree in communication with a 3.86 GPA. Already holding her bachelor's degree in psychology, Orndoff is a four-time Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete award recipient and two-time Big Sky All-Academic honoree.
In her final season on the hardwood, Orndoff averaged 11.0 points per game, which ranked second on the team, and recorded five 20-point games, which tied her for seventh in the Big Sky. She was an integral part of the Lumberjacks' run to the Big Sky Championship game for the first time in 15 years, as she overcame numerous obstacles to come up just shy of joining the 1,000 point club.
In 104 career games, Orndoff finished with 922 points, including a team-high 342 points this season, along with 301 rebounds and 147 assists. Orndoff started 96 of those 104 games, including 76 straight to end her career over her final three seasons.
Kocourkova is enjoying her best season in her last as a Lumberjack, averaging a career-low 74.88 strokes per round heading into next week's Big Sky Golf Championship. The golfer out of Hrebec, Czech Republic, ranks second on the team in scoring average, as well as second in par or better rounds (6) and birdies (63).
This season, Kocourkova won the Red Rocks Invitational last month and recorded the first hole-in-one by a Lumberjack since 2017. She has twice carded 4-under par 68, which is tied for the third-lowest round in school history in relation to par.
While maintaining a 3.86 cumulative GPA in hotel & restaurant management, Kocourkova is a four-time Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete award recipient and has earned three Big Sky All-Academic and WGCA All-American Scholar awards. She is also a three-time all-conference honoree on the golf course and currently ranks seventh in career birdies (192) and fifth in career scoring average (75.72).
Gallery: (4-14-2022) 2021-22 Golden Eagle Awards
