XU's Franklin named HBCU Female Athlete of the Year

SiMon Franklin
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

JACKSON, Mississippi --  Xavier University of Louisiana's SiMon Franklin was named HBCU Female Athlete of the Year for 2012-13 on Friday evening.

Franklin, from Baton Rouge, La., and a graduate of Xavier and St. Joseph's Academy, received the honor during the HBCU Awards banquet at the Jackson State University Student Center. The banquet is part of the inaugural National HBCU Media Week, which will conclude Saturday.

Franklin was a standout for Xavier in basketball and track and field. In basketball, Franklin was a four-year starter at guard who earned honorable mention as a senior on the NAIA Division I All-America Team. She was All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference for the second consecutive season after leading the Gold Nuggets with 10.7 points, 2.4 steals ands 24.9 minutes per game in 2012-13. The MVP of the 2012 GCAC Tournament, Franklin is one of nine Gold Nuggets to reach 1,000 points, 300 rebounds and 200 steals in a career. Franklin had 1,136 points, 331 rebounds, 208 assists, 220 steals in 128 career games at Xavier and helped the Gold Nuggets win three GCAC regular-season championships, two GCAC Tournament championships and qualify for the NAIA Division I National Championship three times.

In track and field, Franklin was the 2013 GCAC outdoor champion in the 400-meter dash, and her time of 56.74 seconds at that meet qualified her automatically for the NAIA National Championships. She ran the anchor leg of the 400 relay team which finished second in the GCAC and also qualified for nationals.

"I am extremely honored," Franklin said. "I thought I was done with athletics and receiving awards after track season ended, but then this happened. To be honored nationwide, that is amazing. I never though anything like that is possible."

Franklin recently began her first full-time job, in the mortgage department of Iberia Bank in downtown New Orleans.

"Monee is first-class person, a wonderful choice for this award and a great representative of Xavier University," said her basketball coach, Bo Browder. "She is the type of student-athlete we continue to recruit for Xavier."

Runners-up to Franklin were Dillard's Jazzmin Smith and Albany State's April Thomas, both basketball players.

XU nominees who did not win were Christabell Hamilton (women's volleyball) for female coach of the year, women's tennis for female team of the year and the College of Pharmacy for best STEM program (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).

Xavier is one of 38 U.S. colleges listed as a "Best Buy School" in the 2013 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges.

A list of all the winners:

Female athlete of the year: SiMon Franklin, Xavier

Male athlete of the year: Anaso Jobodwana, Jackson State

Female coach of the year: Toyelle Wilson, Prairie View A&M

Male coach of the year: Connell Maynor, Winston-Salem State

Female team of the year: Hampton basketball

Male team of the year: Southern basketball

Best marching band: Jackson State

Best choir: Oakwood's Aeolian Choir

Best student government association: Albany State

Best student organization: Spelman's SpelBots team

Best student newspaper: North Carolina Central's Campus Echo

Best alumni publication: Morgan State's Morgan Magazine

Female alumna of the year: Nicole Bernard, Howard

Male alumnus of the year: Tom Colbert, Kentucky State

National alumni association of the year: University of the Virgin Islands

Best research center: Howard's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- Center for Atmospheric Sciences

Best STEM program: Hampton

Best social work program: Fayetteville State

Best fine arts program: Alabama State's Department of Theater Arts

Best business program: Paul Quinn

Best nursing program: Dillard

Female student of the year: Olivia Stinson, Winston-Salem State

Male student of the year: Polite Stewart, Southern

Female faculty member of the year and lifetime achievement award: Myrlie Evers Williams, Alcorn State

Male faculty member of the year: Kinfe Ken Redda, Florida A&M

Female president of the year: Dianne B. Suber, Saint Augustine's

Male president of the year: M. Christopher Brown, Alcorn State

HBCU of the year: Spelman

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA