Neitzel And Trogdon Earn Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award

June 6, 2007

PARK RIDGE, Ill. - - The Big Ten today recognized 22 student-athletes who were named Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners. Men's basketball standout Drew Neitzel and Miken Trogdon, a defensive specialist for the Spartan volleyball team, were MSU's honorees. The 22 Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners include 17 Academic All-Big Ten honorees and 11 All-Big Ten selections from the 2006-07 season.

One member of each varsity sports team on every campus was chosen by the institution as a Sportsmanship Award honoree and from each university's list, two Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners were then selected. All of the Sportsmanship Award honorees have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, theses student-athletes must be in good academic standing and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.

Neitzel averaged a team-best 18.1 points per game, ranking fourth in the Big Ten in scoring. He scored 20 or more points in 17 games. He made 114-of-277 3-point attempts, ranking as the second-best single-season total for made 3-pointers in MSU history. He led the Big Ten in free-throw percentage (.879) and 3-point field goals made per game (3.26 pg), while ranking second in minutes played per game (35.69 mpg), fourth in scoring (18.1 ppg), fifth in assists (4.31 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.84) and seventh in 3-point field-goal percentage (.412). Neitzel earned The Associated Press honorable mention All-America honors, and was named a second-team All-American by both Dick Vitale and CBS Sportsline.com. Additionally, he became MSU's first All-Big Ten first team honoree since 2004. Off the court, he was an Academic All-Big Ten honoree and was involved with numerous community service projects including Athletes For Kids and visiting schools and children in hospitals.

Trogdon, a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and member of the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Volleyball District IV Team, led MSU with 28 service aces during her junior season. The Lisle, Ill., native contributed nine matches with double-digit dig totals in 2006, matching a career high with 14 versus Arizona State in early September and again versus Utah in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in December. Trogdon led the team in aces per game (0.27) and ranked second with 2.19 digs per game. She was involved with numerous community service projects, including Teams For Toys.