SE SWEEPS OVC'S ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

For the first time ever, the male and female athlete of the year in the Ohio Valley Conference are from the same school -- Southeast Missouri State University.

Southeast basketball player Bud Eley is the OVC Male Athlete of the Year while softball player Jenny Oermann is the OVC Female Athlete of the Year.

The announcements were made Tuesday. Eley and Oermann will receive their awards during the annual OVC Honors Luncheon Thursday in Nashville, Tenn.

Both Eley and Oermann were honored as the OVC Player of the Year in their respective sport.

Eley led the OVC and was among the top players nationally in rebounding (10.7 per game), field-goal percentage (59.6 percent) and blocked shots (2.6 per game), and he ranked 10th in the conference in scoring (15.4 points per game).

The 6-foot-10 center from Detroit, Mich., registered double figures in both scoring and rebounding in an amazing 19 of 29 games, and he had a triple-double against Morehead State on Jan. 4 with 24 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocks.

Eley, a potential NBA draft selection later this month, is the only player in Southeast history to score more than 1,600 career points (1,611) and grab more than 900 rebounds (955). He is the school's all-time record-holder in rebounds and blocked shots.

Eley's performance helped propel the Indians to a best-ever second-place finish in the OVC and to their first OVC Tournament championship game. He is the first person from Southeast to be selected as the OVC's Male Athlete of the Year.

"This is really a big honor for Bud," said Southeast basketball coach Gary Garner. "To be selected as the OVC Athlete of the Year, with so many athletes in our conference, is tremendous.

"Bud has had such a great career for us and he's been such a big part of our basketball program. He will definitely be hard to replace."

Oermann was the leader of a Southeast softball squad that won its fifth straight OVC regular-season title, its fourth consecutive OVC Tournament crown and made the first appearance by an OVC team in the NCAA Division I Softball Championships.

The shortstop from St. Clair (Mo.) High School batted .409 with six doubles, two triples, three home runs, 18 runs batted in and 29 runs scored, ranking among the league leaders in three offensive categories.

Oermann was selected to the all-OVC first team for the fourth straight year, becoming just the second player in conference history to accomplish that feat. She was also named to the all-tournament team at the NCAA Regionals after hitting .400 in the regional.

Along with her play in the field, Oermann also has excelled in the classroom with a 3.81 grade-point average, earning GTE Academic All-America honors in 1998 and GTE Academic All-District honors this year, with the possibility that she will still be named a GTE Academic All-American later in the summer.

Oermann is the third person from Southeast to be named OVC Female Athlete of the Year, following volleyball player Pam Kirsch in 1994 and basketball and softball player Kim Palmer in 1997.

"This is a tremendous honor for Jenny and she is very deserving," said Southeast softball coach Lana Richmond. "Jenny has had an unbelievable career for us. She has meant so much to our softball program and she's been such a tremendous person, both on and off the field."

Also Thursday, Southeast will be honored for winning a fifth straight OVC women's all-sports trophy -- the first school in OVC history to pull off that feat.

Middle Tennessee captured the OVC men's all-sports trophy for the fourth year in a row and the sixth time in school history. Southeast was fourth in the men's all-sports competition.