'A family environment' at AUSPY Awards

April 24, 2017 By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com

AUBURN, Ala. - They danced, they sang, they laughed at each other's blooper videos. In between, Auburn student-athletes honored their best and brightest Monday at the seventh annual AUSPY Awards at Auburn Arena.

No stranger to awards presentations, football's Daniel Carlson won Male Athlete of the Year.

"It's big for me," said Carlson, a two-time finalist for the Lou Groza Award as the nation's top kicker. "I've been runner-up in a couple other awards. It's fun to be honored in front of everybody, cheering on everybody else. It's really a family environment here."

In what many called the year of women's sports on the Plains, three Tigers shared Female Athlete of the Year honors: softball's Kasey Cooper, equestrian's Elizabeth Benson and soccer's Casie Ramsier.

"It's awesome," said Benson, an All-American. "It's exciting and it's something that I really looked forward to."

"I was up against some great people, especially Kasey and Elizabeth," said Ramsier, No. 2 all-time with 37 goals. "It was awesome to be able to share that with them. I'm proud to be an Auburn athlete."

Elizabeth Benson, Kasey Cooper and Casie Ramsier shared Female Athlete of the Year honors." style="width:100%; height:auto;" class="imported_image" legacy-link="http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/aub/sports/genrel/auto_a_storywide/12634403.jpeg"> Elizabeth Benson, Kasey Cooper and Casie Ramsier shared Female Athlete of the Year honors.

Ramsier's teammate, Haley Gerken, who returned from knee surgery to help the Tigers reach the NCAA quarterfinals, won the Inspiration Award.

"It meant the world to know that my teammates really valued me and my coach thought enough of me to nominate me," Gerken said.

Cooper played a key role in the softball program winning the Best Comeback award for the Tigers' 11-7 victory over Oklahoma in the second game of the Women's College World Series championship series, the largest comeback in WCWS history.

"I remember we got in the circle and said, 'Well, there's no run rule in a championship series, so we're either going to get our butts whooped or we're going to answer,'" Cooper said. "And we made a decision that we're not going down without a fight.

"That moment in that game ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" I get chills, it's coming back to me just thinking about it ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" because we fought and we said, 'We're not going to get down. Let's go. Who's ready to fight? Who's going to fight with us?' And everyone was on board."

Gymnastics earned the War Eagle Moment for beating Alabama. Equestrian won Team of the Year for winning the 2016 national championship.

Volleyball's Stephanie Campbell won the Passion Award, in honor of the late senior associate AD Virgil Starks, for serving Auburn student-athletes while demonstrating compassion and commitment.

Rookie of the Year Awards went to basketball's Mustapha Heron and Julie Meynen from swimming and diving.

"I didn't know it was coming. I didn't even know I was getting nominated for it," said Heron, who ranked ninth in the SEC averaging 15.2 points per game. "It just shows that there's support all over campus and people are seeing the hard work. I'm ready to come back next year and make an even bigger statement."

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer