May 2, 2004

MILWAUKEE - Basketball stars Dylan Page and Maria Viall have been named the UWM/Coca-Cola Athletes of the Year.

The pair was honored along with a number of UWM student-athletes at the annual University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student-Athlete Awards Reception, held today in the Wisconsin Room of the UWM Student Union. This year's ceremony was combined with the annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, with UWM welcoming Robert Baker, Lisa Krzykowski and Chad Zehms as hall of famers.

Page led the Panther men to their first-ever Horizon League regular season championship and a first-ever berth in the NIT. For his efforts, Page was named the Horizon League's Player of the Year, becoming the first Panther to ever win the honor, and claimed honorable mention Associated Press All-America honors. Page ranked in the top 10 in the Horizon League in seven different statistical categories while winning Mid-Major All-America honors from CollegeInsider.com and all-region honors from both the United States Basketball Writers Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He led the Panthers in scoring 23 times this past season while scoring 20 or more points 20 times.

Viall completed her stellar four-year career with the Panthers as UWM's all-time leading scorer. She was named the Horizon League's Player of the Year for the second time in her career while also receiving all-district honors from the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association. She led UWM to a 17-12 mark and a second-place regular season finish in the Horizon League while topping the team's charts in both scoring and rebounding. Off the court, Viall was named a Division I-AAA Academic All-American.

Seniors Josh Baseheart (swimming and diving) and Jeney Walter (women's soccer) received the prestigious Herman Kluge Senior Athlete Awards. The Kluge awards are given to the top male and female senior student-athletes. Meanwhile, Sarah Caldwell of the swimming and diving team again won the Athletic Director's Award for having the highest cumulative grade-point average in the department.

The women's soccer and men's track and field/cross country teams were honored for recording the highest grade-point averages in the athletic department while the women's basketball team won the Horizon League Community Outreach Award and the men's indoor track and field team claimed the Horizon League Sportsmanship Award.

Student-athletes, coaches and team that won awards from the Horizon League or other organizations throughout the year were also recognized during the ceremony.