Louisville hands out top awards

The University of Louisville Athletic Department recognized the most outstanding athletes and performances of the year Wednesday night at the famed Louisville Palace in downtown Louisville. The 2014 Louie Awards are the first annual presentation that are modeled after ESPN's ESPYs Awards Show.

The top honor of the evening, the adidas High Performance Athlete of the Year Award, was claimed by Joao De Lucca (swimming & diving) on the men's side and Shoni Schimmel (basketball) on the women's side. The award is given annually to a female and a male student-athlete regardless of class, and is awarded based solely on athletic performance/achievement.

De Lucca added two more individual National Championships to his resume at the 2014 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in March. He won the 100- and 200-freestyle events to defend his title in the 200-freestyle. De Lucca is the first swimmer since 1995 to sweep the 100- and 200-freestyle disciplines at the National Championships.

Schimmel, who recently was picked eighth overall in the 2014 WNBA Draft to the Atlanta Dream, ended her career second all-time on the U of L women's basketball scoring list with 2,174. She also finished with a school record 387 made three-pointers, and another school record 118 of them coming this season.

The Breakthrough Athlete Award, presented to one male and one female student-athlete, have been declared to have made the best or most significant improvement in his or her sport in a given year. The male recipient was Montrezl Harrell (basketball), while the female recipient was Asia Taylor (basketball).

The Record-Breaking Performance Award was bestowed upon two swimmers, Joao De Lucca and Kelsi Worrell. This award is given to a student-athlete who has a record-breaking single-play, game or season performance declared to be the most remarkable, significant, or impressive in a given year.

The Moment of the Year award was given to Kelsi Worrell for her performance at the 2014 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in March. Worrell finished second in the 200-butterfly event, the highest ever finish for a U of L women's swimmer or diver. The award is handed to a student-athlete with the moment or series of moments occurring in a sporting event or season declared to the most remarkable, compelling, or entertaining in a given year.

The Best Championship Performance Award is presented to a student-athlete or team declared to have made the best or most significant performance in a championship match, series, or tournament in their sport. This award was won by U of L women's tennis seniors Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine for their incredible run through the ITA National Indoor Championships last summer, in which the doubles pair finished as National Runners-up, and won eight straight matches along the way.

The full list of award winners are as follows:

Breakthrough Athlete

Male: Montrezl Harrell (basketball)

Female: Asia Taylor (basketball)

Record-Breaking Performance

Male: Joao De Lucca (swimming & diving)

Female: Kelsi Worrell (swimming & diving)

Moment of the Year

Kelsi Worrell (swimming & diving)

Cunningham Family Leadership Award (Male)

Daniel Keller (soccer)

Central Cardinal Club Leadership Award (Female)

Amy Van Syoc (rowing)

Freshman of the Year

Male: Andrew Brody (soccer)

Female: Kay Morissette (lacrosse)

Sophomore of the Year

Male: Nick Burdi (baseball)

Female: Kelsi Worrell (swimming & diving)

Junior of the Year

Male: Teddy Bridgewater (football)

Female: Katie Keller (softball)

Ed Kallay Senior of the Year

Male: Russ Smith (basketball)

Female: Shoni Schimmel (basketball)

adidas Athlete of the Year

Male: Joao De Lucca (swimming & diving)

Female: Shoni Schimmel (basketball)

Inspiration Award

Shoni Schimmel (basketball)

Jude Schimmel (basketball)

Play of the Year

Teddy Bridgewater (football)

Damian Copeland (football)

Best Championship Performance

Julia Fellerhoff (tennis)

Becca Shine (tennis)

CardsCARE

Male: Andrew Stewart (track & field)

Female: Laura Patterson (lacrosse)

Team: Lacrosse

Louisville First Award

Teddy Bridgewater (football)