Men's Awards
Below is a list of Cadet earned awards for the listed academic years. Special note is to be made for the Koehn and Murph awards, named after, and in honor and memory of Danial Murphy (2003) and Kim Koehn (1973), both of whom exhibited such a love of our sport that so played a part in their lives that their families and teammates wished to preserved their memories when their lives were cut short.
In addition to these named awards, there is one other deceased cadet honored by his parents Don and Lois LaTorra, who recognized the passion and value their son placed on his AFA rugby experience. The LaTorra Fund, a true endowment fund created in memory of Ross LaTorra (80) and held at the AOG, spins off interest each year to support the Men's team.
In 2019, the Alumni Booster Club sponsored the Alumni Award, for the cadet who most embodied our core values
As sometimes happens with changing of coaches and administrations, the details and names of these awards get confusing, so where the award was not given out by name, but another 'named' award was given, a 'best fit' for the honoree is place into the chart below. The details for each award that guided the 'best fit' are kept on this site for posterity: Murph Award, Koehn Award and Alumni/Booster Club Award
There used to be a plaque in Arnold Hall that had the MVPs listed for men and women but we do not know where it is, so this is our only history: Awards for 1969-2015
Awards for 2016 and beyond below:
| Graduation Year | MV Back | MV Forward | Most Improved | Rookie of the Year | Murph Award for Most Inspirational | Koehn Award for Rugger of the Year | Sevens Player of the Year | Alumni Award | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Ben Burmester ("Iron Man" award) | Lawrence D'Agostino | Hunter Hancock | Elliott Higgins | William Maschmeyer | Click here for more -> 2015 Fall Men's Awards | |||
| 2017 | Dylan Brown | Elliott Higgins | Liam Boyd | Austin Lyons | Chase Bockstruck | Mitch Cochell | National Collegiate Honor Roll Benjamin Weaver, Chase Bockstruck, selection to All-American Camp Dylan Brown and Mitchell Cochell, and click here for -> more 2017 awards | ||
| 2018 | Alex Goirigolzarri | Austin Lyons | Nate Lavery | Henry Hill | Jason Kyles | Elliott Higgins | Tristyn Hanson | Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship – Life of Significance Award, Finalist – Nick Waterman
Click here for more 2018 AFA Men's Awards |
|
| 2019 | Johnny Griffith | Tom Cox | Dustin Stille | Clay Madson | Nick Waterman | Elliott Higgins | Koby Hinnant | Marquis Cobb | More 2019 Men's Awards |
| 2020 | Christian Garriel | Han Zhang |
Han was a tremendous asset to us this year as our Open Side Flanker. His team additional duty was Cadet in Charge of Fitness. Han transitioned from the Backs to Forwards last summer, quickly learned the position, and made immense contributions with his tough disruptive defense and tackling. Offensively he was critical to our scrum success and instrumental in our line-out work. When injuries took their toll on us he stepped up and filled our leadership needs. Furthermore when the coaching staff had near term tasks that need to be quickly accomplished we always could count him to make that happen. Personally, I had a lot of opportunity to coach him - he is one of the most coach-able gents I have been around. Han was recognized with a Rocky Mountain Rugby Conference Honorable Mention Award.
