Moon Township, Pa. – A trio of RMU student-athletes were honored Wednesday at the 2022 Robert Morris University Student Recognition Awards Ceremony by the School of Informatics, Humanities & Social Sciences (SIHSS), held at the Wheatley Center.
Senior forward
Kahliel Spear of the men's basketball team was honored with the Outstanding Student in Economics Award, senior guard
Natalie Villaflor of the women's basketball program garnered the Outstanding English Studies Major in Writing Award and freshman
Isabella Bigler of the rowing team earned a SIHSS Student Media Leadership Scholarship.
Spear, a native of The Colony, Texas, has maintained a 3.92 cumulative grade point average (GPA) as an economics major. He paced the Colonials in scoring (14.7 ppg), rebounding (7.7 rpg) and blocks (35) during the 2021-22 season while also leading the Horizon League in field goal percentage at 55.1 percent (188-341).
The honor for Spear, who received his award from Zhou Yang, Ph.D., is one of a bevy that he has assembled this spring. In addition to being named to the
2022 All-Horizon League Third Team for his performance in competition, Spear was tabbed to the
2022 Horizon League All-Academic Team and, most recently, was selected as the
2022 Horizon League Winter Scholar-Athlete of the Season.
In addition, Spear was
named to the 2021-22 Academic All-America® Second Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), becoming the first basketball student-athlete in RMU's NCAA Division I history, in either gender, to be bestowed the plaudit.
Villaflor, a native of Ashburn, Va., has posted a cumulative GPA of 3.98 as an English major. She appeared in 106 games over the last four seasons with the Colonials, scoring 389 points and grabbing 270 rebounds. As a freshman, Villaflor, who received her award from Connie Ruzich, Ph.D., helped guide RMU to the 2019 Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament championship and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, where the Colonials squared off with Louisville. She plans on pursuing a master's degree next year in Emmitsburg, Md., at Mount St. Mary's.
Bigler, a native of East Grand Rapids, Mich., and in her first season as a member of the rowing team at RMU, is one of 10 students that were honored with SIHSS Student Media Leadership Scholarships that were distributed by John Perrotto, Student Advisor to RMU Sentry Media. Bigler, a cinema and photography major who has maintained a 3.81 GPA, has seen action with the RMU Second Varsity 8 during her first season with the Colonials and in January covered President Joe Biden's visit to Pittsburgh, Pa., to discuss the infrastructure bill.
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