Monday, July 22, 2002

Johnson City, Tenn. (July 22, 2002) - East Tennessee State's department of athletics has announced that Carey Cavanaugh (Munroe Falls, Ohio) and Dimeco Childress (Columbia, Tenn.) have been selected as ETSU's female and male athletes of the year for the 2001-02 school year. The pair was selected in a vote by the Buccaneer's head coaches. A member of the volleyball team, Cavanaugh was selected as the Southern Conference Player of the Year after her senior season and was a three-time All-SoCon selection during her career. She led the team to a 20-5 overall record in 2001, including going 15-5 in the SoCon; the most conference wins ever for the Buccaneers. She finished in the top 10 in the league in assists, hitting percentage and digs, the only player in the conference to accomplish that last season. Her 1,007 assists gave her 3,098 for her career, fourth on the ETSU all-time list. Her average of 10.91 assists per game is tops in the ETSU record books. She also holds the school record for assists in a three-game match (57), assists in a four-game match (64) and digs in a match (37). Childress was also a Southern Conference Player of the Year after leading the men's basketball team to its second straight Southern Conference North Division regular season title in 2001-02. Three times last season he was chosen as the SoCon Player of the Week and led the team in scoring with a 17.5 average, finishing fourth in the conference scoring race. He scored over 20 points in a game 11 times last season, highlighted by his 42-point outburst against Western Carolina in Memorial Center, setting a new individual scoring record in that facility. He finished his career with 1,287 points, becoming the 21st player to record over 1,000 points at ETSU, finishing eighth on the all-time list.