Last year was a great year for a lot of teams at Northern Kentucky University. In recognition of the school’s success, the Norse finished fifth in the rankings for the Great Lakes Valley All-Sports Trophy.

The All-Sports trophy is given to the school in the GLVC which accumulates the most points based on its final standings in athletics during the school year. The higher the finish in standings, the more points the team is given. NKU won the All-Sports Trophy from the 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 seasons; Southern Indiana University won the award last year.

The Norse finished first in both men’s and women’s tennis as well as baseball after winning their respective conference tournaments. NKU finished second in softball and women’s soccer after making it to the finals of their conference tournaments.

There we several NKU athletes named to their sports All-American team during the 2003-2004 season.

Derrick Moeves was the GLVC Pitcher of the Year in baseball and was named Third Team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Jonathan Ehlen of the men’s golf team was named Honorable Mention All-American by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Kim Keyer-Scott became the first three-time All-American in NKU Women’s Golf history after garnering Second Team honors from the National Golf Coaches Association, and she was named the GLVC Player of the Year.

Softball player Krystal Lewallen was the GLVC Player of the Year and was named First Team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (the only NKU player to earn that honor). She posted the lowest earned run average in Division II Softball.

Volleyball player Kristin Koralweski was the GLVC Player of the Year and named First Team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Coaches from Northern received their share of honors as well. Geoff Crawford was named the GLVC Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year, Kathy Stewart was GLVC Softball Coach of the Year and Women’s Soccer Coach Bob Sheehan was GLVC Co-Coach of the Year.

With all the success that the school had last season, the 2004-05 year kicks off with high expectations for many of the fall sports teams.

The teams in women’s soccer and volleyball have been named as the favorite in each of their sports in the GLVC. The soccer team finished last season ranked eighth in the nation, and the volleyball team was ranked just outside the top 25 in the AVCA preseason poll.

As the year begins, NKU athletics faces high expectations. Judging from the successes of last year, the teams are more than capable of meeting or even exceeding those expectations.