CHAMPAIGN Ill. – The University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) announced Wednesday that wrestling national champion Lucas Byrd and track & field All-American Tacoria Humphrey are winners of the 2024-25 Dike Eddleman Award, presented annually to the top Fighting Illini male and female athlete. The recipients were selected by vote of Illinois head coaches and DIA executive staff.
Byrd earns the 11th Eddleman Award in the history of the Fighting Illini wrestling program, and the first since fellow national champion Isaiah Martinez won back-to-back laurels in 2016 and 2017.
LUCAS BYRD, Wrestling | Dike Eddleman Male Athlete of the Year
- NCAA Champion at 133 pounds
- Big Ten Champion at 133 pounds
- 21st Fighting Illini wrestler to win a national championship, earning the program's 25th individual national title
- First NCAA Champion at Illinois since 2016 and first ever in the 133-pound weight class
- Illinois' 79th Big Ten Champion and the second ever at 133 pounds
- 12th wrestler in program history to win both Big Ten and NCAA titles in the same season
- Seventh-highest career win percentage in school history, 96-16 (.857)
- Went 23-1 overall, 12-1 in duals and 7-1 in Big Ten duals
Humphrey is the fifth consecutive recipient from the Illini women's track & field program to earn the Eddleman award, and the third of coach Petros Kyprianou's three-year tenure. She is the 23rd winner overall from track since the Illinois Female Athlete of the Year award was first presented in 1977. Track & Field has the most selections among Illini women's sports programs.
TACORIA HUMPHREY, Track & Field | Dike Eddleman Female Athlete of the Year
Indoor
- Big Ten Champion (long jump)
- NCAA All-American (long jump)
- Won the Big Ten Title with the third-furthest long jump in NCAA history 6.94m (22-9 1/4) to set Big Ten, program and B1G Indoor Championships records
- The program's sixth long jump Big Ten Champion, first since Yvonne Mensah in 2007
- National runner-up in the long jump with a 6.75m (22-1 3/4) leap, the program's highest finisher in the event
- Fourth long jump All-American in program history
- Third Illini woman to be named to The Bowerman Watch List on March 5
Outdoor
- Big Ten Champion (long jump)
- NCAA All-American (long jump)
- Won her second-consecutive Big Ten Outdoor title on a jump of 6.59m (21-7 1/2) to become Illinois' seventh Big Ten long jump champion
- First-Team All-American with a jump of 6.62m (21-8 3/4) to take fourth at the NCAA Championships, the program's highest finish in the event
- The second Illini to earn All-America status in the long jump, and the first in 43 years since Becky Kaiser on Illinois' first NCAA-qualifying team in 1982
As Fighting Illini Athletes of the Year, Byrd and Humphrey become Illinois' nominees for Big Ten Athlete of the Year honors.
THE DIKE EDDLEMAN AWARD
The University of Illinois Athlete of the Year was first awarded in 1940. The award was given annually until it was discontinued for a brief period in 1973. Since 1983, the University of Illinois has recognized both a Male and Female Athletes of the Year. In 1993, the awards were named in honor of the 11-time UI letterman and Olympian Dwight "Dike" Eddleman, who is generally considered the greatest athlete in the history of Illinois Athletics. Eddleman participated in basketball, football and track & field in 1943 and 1946-49, earning a combined 11 varsity letters in his career.
The list of all-time Fighting Illini greats who have been selected as Athlete of the Year include names like Dike Eddleman himself (football, basketball, track, 1948 & '49), Dick Butkus (football, 1964 & '65), Nancy Thies (gymnastics, 1977), Craig Virgin (track and cross country, 1977), Tony Eason (football, 1982 & '83), Mary Eggers (volleyball, 1987, '88 & '89), Kendall Gill (basketball, 1990), Renee Slone (Heiken) (golf, 1991 & '92), Tonja Buford-Bailey (track, 1992 & '93), Kevin Hardy (football, 1996), Ashley Berggren (basketball, 1997 & '98), Perdita Felicien (track, 2001, '02 & '03), Justin Spring (gymnastics, 2004 & '06), Deron Williams (basketball, 2005), Kevin Anderson (tennis, 2007), Angela Bizzarri (track and cross country, 2008, '09, & '10), Scott Langley (golf, 2010), Andrew Riley (track, 2011 & '12), Janelle Flaws (soccer, 2014), Tyler Jay (baseball, 2015), Isaiah Martinez (wrestling, 2016 & '17), Jordyn Poulter (volleyball, 2018 & '19), Ayo Dosunmu (basketball, 2020 & '21), Olivia Howell (track and cross country, 2021, '22, & '23), Devon Witherspoon (football, 2023), and Terrence Shannon Jr. (basketball, 2024).
