United States Sports Academy |
Ugandan runner Joshua Cheptegei and American softball player Cat Osterman were named the United States Sports Academy’s Athletes of the Month for August after stellar performances during the month.
Cheptegei set the world record with a time of 12:35.36 in the 5,000-meter race at the Diamond League event in Monaco on 14 August 2020. Cheptegei’s time shaved two seconds off the previous record set by Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele in 2004.
Osterman pitched a two-hit shutout for Team Warren against Team Wagner on 31 August 2020 at the Athletes Unlimited event in Chicago. Osterman did not allow an earned run in 12 innings and struck out 19 batters in the first week of Athletes Unlimited competition.
The second place finisher on the men’s side was American golfer Collin Moriwaka and third place went to American baseball pitcher Lucas Giolito.
Moriwaka shot a 13-under 267 to win his first major title at the PGA Championship in in San Francisco on 9 August 2020. Moriwaka recorded four birdies and an eagle to shoot a 64 in the final round.
Giolito threw a no-hitter on 25 August for the Chicago White Sox against the Pittsburgh Pirates and earned American League Player of the Week honors. Giolito issued just one walk, struck out 13 batters, and induced 30 swings-and-misses in the 4-0 win. He faced just one more batter than the minimum, finishing just one walk away from pitching a perfect game.
The second place finisher on the women’s side was American basketball player A’Ja Wilson and third place went to German golfer Sophia Popov.
Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces earned WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month honors for August after averaging 20.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game as the Aces went 11-1 in the month.
Popov shot a 7-under 277 to capture the Women’s British Open title on 23 August 2020 in Scotland. Popov, ranked 304th in the world, produced a 3-under par final round of 68 to capture her first major title since turning professional in 2014.
Each month, the public is invited to participate in the Academy’s worldwide Athlete of the Month program by nominating athletes and then voting online during the first week of every month. The online votes are used to guide the Academy selection committee in choosing the male and female monthly winners, who then become eligible for selection to the prestigious Athlete of the Year ballot. A worldwide public vote on the annual ballot is used to guide the committee in making the final selection.
The Athlete of the Year Award is part of the United States Sports Academy’s Awards of Sport program, which each year serves as “A Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” The Academy presents the awards to pay tribute to those who have made significant contributions to sport, in categories as diverse as the artist and the athlete in several different arenas of sport.
The awards honor exemplary achievement in coaching, all-around athletic performance, courage, humanitarian activity, fitness and media, among others. The Academy’s American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) annually recognizes these men and women through its Sport Artist of the Year, Honorary Doctorates, Distinguished Service Awards, Outstanding Athletes, and Alumni of the Year awards. This is the 36th year of the Academy’s Awards of Sport program.
The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports.
Founded in 1984, ASAMA is dedicated to the preservation of sports art, history, and literature. The ASAMA collection is composed of more than 1,800 works of sport art across a variety of media, including paintings, sculptures, assemblages, prints and photographs. The museum is open free to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. For more information, go to www.asama.org.
The Academy is based in Daphne, Ala. For more information, call (251) 626-3303 or visit www.ussa.edu.