Earlier this week, UNC held their annual Rammy Awards to honor the best in Tar Heel sports from the past year. While some spring sports are still going on, the “school year” is genuinely coming to an end, and with many athletes set to graduate and/or head into the professional ranks in their various sports, it’s a way to honor Carolina sports after another pretty good year in total.
Here’s a bit of a look back at what happened this year.
The biggest honors — Oscars’ Best Actor/Actress equivalent, if
you will — are the outstanding athletes of the year. For the men, that award when to basketball’s Caleb Wilson. In a about two months time, Wilson will probably be a top four pick in the NBA Draft, as he just put up one of the most impressive freshman seasons by any Tar Heel ever, hence the award. The women’s honor went to lacrosse’s Chloe Humphrey. Humphrey helped lead last year’s UNC team to a national championship, and her 83 goals this year have Carolina in position to make a run at another this year.
The women’s lacrosse team also, unsurprisingly, won the Best Team award. Plenty of other Tar Heel teams had good years, but they were the only ones to win a national title. The team’s Eliza Osburn also won the Outstanding Newcomer honor, while the men’s version of that award went to baseball players Walker McDuffie and Ryan Lynch.
Despite the disappointing year that men’s basketball had overall, they actually did take home a couple more awards, both related to one particular game/play. Seth Trimble’s game-winning three to beat Duke was named Best Play, with that game as a whole also winning Best Upset.
Athletic directors old and new were also honored. The departing Bubba Cunningham was given a Founders Award, while soon-to-be AD Steve Newmark got a Best Newcomers Award.
Track & Field’s Makayla Paige won an individual national championship at NCAAs last year in the indoor 800m. The school honored that title by awarding her the Best Championship Performance Rammy. In a related honor, Humphrey also won the Best Record-Breaking Performance after scoring 90 goals in her freshman season.
Other Tar Heels to recieve honors were Sofia Frei and Sofia Knight (swimming & diving), Riley Berge (men’s soccer), Youssef Shamel (fencing), and Reese Brantmeier (women’s tennis).
Congrats to all the winners in what was another pretty nice year for UNC sports. Hopefully, next year will be another big one.
