(Tempe, AZ) Sun Devil soccer head coach Graham Winkworth and softball graduate student Yanni Acuña received the top awards at the annual Wings of Gold event last Wednesday evening at the San Tan Ford Club at Sun Devil Stadium.
The two big awards that were given out were the Heather Farr Award, which Acuña won, and the Wings of Gold Linda Vollstedt Coach of the Year, which Winkworth won.
After the silent auction prior to the event, emcee Lina Washington, a sports reporter for 12 News in Phoenix and an ASU alumnus, first acknowledged the accomplishments of the women’s sports programs at ASU throughout the 2021-22 and 2022-23 athletic seasons in addition to four women student-athletes who are Change Agents in the Sun Devil community.
Washington first noted Sun Devil Softball’s 20-game win streak they went on last season and how they were 12-0 to start conference play and hosted Regionals and Super Regionals last May. Washington then highlighted triathlon’s sixth-consecutive national championship backed by national champion Amber Schlebusch and runner-up Liberty Ricca in November 2022.
After team highlights, Washington went on to recognize the four student-athletes servings as Change Agents by first recognizing beach volleyball’s Jensen Kaelin, who is the only Sun Devil student-athlete to be in the Starbucks college program. She also is involved with EmpowHER, a program specific for bringing together female student-athletes. Next, Washington recognized gymnastics’ Izzy Redmond for her NIL partnership with adidas, serving as the Black Student Athletes Association president and being a key panelist for the social justice town hall during Super Bowl Week last month. Lastly, Lexi Guerin and Brynn Holohan of lacrosse were acknowledged for the efforts they made in creating an ASU student-athlete chapter of Morgan’s Message, a nonprofit organization that strives to eliminate the stigma of mental health within the student-athlete community.
After the student-athete and team highlights, the Heather Farr Award was awarded to Acuña and was presented by Farr’s sister, current Sun Devil women’s golf head coach Missy Farr-Kaye. The award was named in honor of one of the most successful female student-athletes in school history. Farr passed away in November 1993 after a long, valiant fight against breast cancer. This award honors her legacy of what it means to be a great Sun Devil student-athlete.
“Being a Sun Devil has always given me so many opportunities on and off the field,” Acuña said. “Heather Farr always had a great mindset to everything she did and it’s in my hope to portray that mindset and to be the best version of myself for my community and the people around me.”
After the live auction, the Linda Vollstedt Coach of the Year award was presented to Winkworth. The 2022 recipient and women’s tennis head coach Sheila McInerney presented the honor. The award is given to the Sun Devil women’s coach who most exhibits the four pillars of the Sun Devil Way: integrity, championship performance, graduation and tradition.
“I now have the honor of winning such a prestigious award for our program, I’m a little taken back and shocked,” Winkworth said. “I’ve got the best job in the world in my eyes, and I get to work with some incredible young ladies. I could not think of a better group of ladies to have in my young boys’ lives. If the young ladies in all of the other sports, and I’m sure they are, are anything like mine, we are really, really blessed to work within your presence.”
The Wings of Gold fund supports the rich tradition of women’s collegiate athletics at Arizona State by acting as an advocate and support system for all 14 Sun Devil women’s athletic programs. The unrestricted dollars raised through the Wings of Gold fund are evenly distributed between the 14 programs and will be used for recruiting, academic and other essential needs necessary to compete at the highest level.
For more information, head to sundevilclub.com/wog. The story of Heather Farr and how her award came to be can be found here.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Olivia Dowell
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