By: MIAA Communications

some information courtesy of Lincoln Athletics and Fort Hays State Athletics

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The MIAA announced the 2020-21 Winter Female and Male Student-Athletes of the Year, presented by Summit Pointe Financial Group. The male winner is Kizan David of Lincoln and the female winner is Whitney Randall of Fort Hays State. The awards are the Association’s highest honor for student-athletes during the winter sports season.  

David excelled in the sport of track and field; and Randall was a star on the basketball court. The duo received the most votes from a 13-member panel of conference administrators. They were selected as a finalist, announced April 7th by the league office. For more information on the list of finalists, click here.

Kizan David - Lincoln, Indoor Track & Field
David, a senior from St. Paul's, Saint Kitts and Nevis, claimed the individual national title in the Indoor Long Jump back in mid- March. His leap of 7.66m was the best mark among any Division II competitor. He also scored a second-place national finish in the Triple Jump with a distance of 15.61m. A two-time first team All-American this year, 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. Also a two-time All-MIAA performer, David led the country in the triple jump and was fifth nationally in the long jump entering the NCAA Division II Championships, where he helped Lincoln finish seventh overall as a men's team.

In addition to his many accomplishments as a jumper, 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 All-America First Team and the CoSIDA/Google Cloud All-District First Team in both 2019 and 2020, and he is a five-time recipient of the MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award, as he has maintained a 3.959 GPA with a major in Computer Information Systems. David has been named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll five times, and has twice received national recognition for his academic performance from the USTFCCCA.

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.

Whitney Randall - Fort Hays State, Basketball
Randall, a senior from Alva, Okla., was an All-MIAA First Team selection in 2021, helping FHSU Women's Basketball boast the MIAA Regular Season Championship and earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Central Regional. She helped the Tigers to their sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the last seven years, while leading the team in scoring with 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 22^nd player in school history to reach 1,000 career points which stands at 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. She 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.

The 2020-21 Student-Athlete of the Year awards are given in lieu of the annual Ken B. Jones award due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The MIAA’s COVID-19 Task Force recommended an award that properly recognizes the top student-athletes from the winter but not limit the student-athletes who were unable to finish their seasons and collect accolades for a fair and competitive resume.

A 13-member committee comprised of one administrator from each full-member MIAA institution and the conference office ranked each candidate based on excellence in three categories: Athletic Achievement in that academic year, Career Academic Achievements, and Community/Campus Service during the Academic Year. A nominee must have at least a 3.25 cumulative grade-point average through the previous full semester term through February 1, 2021; must be a student-athlete that has participated in good standing in any MIAA sponsored championship sport; and must be scheduled to complete at least his/her junior season of athletic eligibility by June 1, 2021.

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