Laramie, Wyo. (Sept. 28, 2024) – An outstanding student-athlete and a dedicated student worker are the winners of the 2024 Admiral Land Award and Trophy, a longtime Wyoming homecoming tradition. This year's Award winner is former soccer player Jamie Tatum, and the Trophy winner is marketing intern Darby Thayer. The announcement was made at Saturday's Wyoming-Air Force Homecoming football game.
The Admiral Land Award is presented to the student-athlete(s) who has completed his or her Wyoming competition during the preceding academic year and demonstrated outstanding achievement in intercollegiate competition, exemplary personal conduct during competition, and maintained academic standing with satisfactory progress toward a degree. The Admiral Land Trophy is awarded to the student (non-collegiate athlete) who has done the most to promote Intercollegiate Athletics at the University during the previous school year.
A native of Highlands Ranch, Colo., Jamie Tatum is the most decorated player in Cowgirl Soccer history. She has the most goals in program history with 25, the most points with 69, the most starts with 83, is third in game-winning goals with 7 and third in assists with 18. She was named the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year during the 2022 season when the Cowgirls won the conference's regular-season crown and played in the tournament title game. She majored in nursing while at UW.
Darby Thayer is a senior majoring in Marketing Communication and Leadership. In her third year as an intern for Athletics Marketing, she has taken on leadership roles, spearheaded marketing initiatives, and contributed countless hours to promoting Wyoming Athletics on campus, in the community, and throughout the state. During the past school year specifically, Darby led the Wyoming Kids Club, increasing membership in the club from 76 members to over 300. Hailing from Rawlins, Wyo., Darby has helped lead several community outreach events, including the Pokes Halloween Bash in partnership with Wyoming SAAC, Bounce Cancer, Football Spring Youth Clinic, and Wyoming Night at David Street Station in Casper.
The Admiral Land awards have been a special part of Homecoming since 1953. They were established as a tribute to distinguished UW alumnus Admiral Emory S. Land, class of 1898. Land was a World War II Shipping Administrator and head of the U.S. Maritime Service. At UW, he was a member of the first football team and four of the first five teams in school history.
Following are the previous Admiral Land Award & Trophy Winners:
Year Admiral Land Award Admiral Land Trophy
1953 Paul Carlin, Track
1954 George Galuska, Football
1955 Bob Jingling, Baseball
1956 Joe Capua, Basketball
1957 Jim Crawford, Football
1958 C.T. "Wimp" Hewgley
1959 Harold Farmer, Football & Track Janice Elmer
1960 Dick Ballinger, Wrestling Mary Jones
1961 Jerry Hill, Football Dave Bonner
1962 Chuck Lamson, Football Gene Bryan
1963 Bob Hanson, Basketball Judy King
1964 Mack Balls, Football Joan Selmer
1965 Flynn Robinson, Basketball John Hursh
1966 Bob Dinges, Football Babette Numon & Harold Blumenthal
1967 Mike Gregorio, Cross Country Phil White, Jr.
1968 Mike Eberle, Basketball Carl Hanson & Jim York
1969 Bruce Jennings, Skiing Bill Hill
1970 Stan Dodds, Basketball Debbie Hardy
1971 Roy Wilson, Basketball Mary Ann Gorman & Don Bogdan
1972 Gary Fox, Football Kathy Hunt & Larry Bresso
1973 Staale Engen, Skiing The UW Marching Band
1974 Steve Cockreham, Football Michelle Green & Bill Yost
1975 Jody Sloan, Wrestling The UW Pep Band
1976 Bill Ewing, Baseball Steve Prosinski
1977 Christine Brown, Women's Athletics Sally Shurmur
1978 Kathy Merklin, Women's Athletics Randall Luthi
1979 Ross Houston, Skiing Pete Kuhn
1980 Geir Kvernmo, Track/Skiing Cynthia Fester
1981 Charles Bradley, Basketball Bob Ihle
1982 Phil Davis, Football; Bill Garnett, Basketball Mike Larson & Mark Netzel
1983 Lynn Stetson, Swimming; Stacy Ward, Skiing Scott Roberts
1984 Wes Gasner, Wrestling; Mary Shea, Volleyball Bill Lamberty
1985 Joe Ramunno, Football; Kathy Romsa, Track; Annie Easterbrook
Becky Simning, Skiing
1986 Mike Hamel, Wrestling; Shari Ahola, Skiing Audrey Waldock
1987 Jim Walter, Baseball Mike Chisholm
1988 Mark Miller, Swimming; Ronda Munger, Volleyball Patrick Stolz
1989 Randy Welniak, Football Amy Dimond & Ron Loghry
1990 Darcy Cudaback, Volleyball; Kevin Rochlitz
& John Wodny, Cross Country
1991 Shelly Thacker, Track & Field; Rob Clayton, Swimming Jeff Ketron
1992 David McCleave, Golf; UW Marching Band
Dave Myers, Wrestling;
Reginald Slater, Basketball
1993 Scarlett Gustin, Basketball; Wildfire Dance Team
Mike Abbey, Track & Field
1994 Kiesa Fornstrom, Swimming Noah Buckley, John Carr & Brian Madden
1995 Amy Burnett, Basketball; Karen Schatz
Ryan Christopherson, Football
1996 Joe Cummings, Football; Doug Hoffman
Tom Hickenlooper, Wrestling
1997 Shilo Mathill, Wrestling Kevin Koerwitz
1998 Brian Lee, Football Dusty Clements
1999 Mark Winninger, Wrestling Mark Gibbs
2000 Corey Hamrick, Wrestling Baend Buus
2001 Joe Hall, Track & Field Abi Gerhard
2002 Oscar Delgado, Diving Will LeDoux & Shalee McCue
2003 Josh Rollins, Football Mark Krug
2004 Casey Bramlet, Football Keven Gibbs
2005 Shauna Smith, Track, & Scott Usher, Swimming Jason Wasserburger
2006 Bryce Leonhardt, Wrestling David Primus
2007 Kevin Bretting, Diving Mark Bock
2008 Hanna Zavecz, Basketball Eric Whiting & Shelley Heward
2009 Ward Dobbs, Football, & Amanda Lathrop, Soccer Sean Valentine
2010 Emily Huth, Diving Kellen Little
2011 Aubrey Vandiver, Basketball & Chris Prosinski, Football Andy Chapman & Nick Kinney
2012 Joe LeBlanc, Wrestling Ali Galey and Ryan Freeman
2013 Alfonso Hernandez, Wrestling, & Chaundra Sewell, Basketball Katie Stout and Steven Sundberg
2014 Morgan Hartigan-Calhoon, Swimming & Diving Jami Baker
2015 Erin Kirby, Volleyball/Track & Field; Larry Nance, Jr., Basketball; Cory Fields
& Shane Woods, Wrestling
2016 Tanner Harms, Wrestling Cassandra Craddock & Patrick Hall
2017 Ryan Wallen, Golf Mary Ginsbach & Zach Wisniewski
2018 Bryce Meredith, Wrestling & Liv Roberts, Basketball Kayla Cryer
2019 John Murdock, Golf Dana Jorgensen & Keaton Yeend
2020 No Awards Given (Pandemic)
2021 No Awards Given (Pandemic)
2022 Chad Muma, Football Emma Agebrand & Jocelyn Campbell
2023 Maria Oreshkina, Tennis Zoie Olguin
2024 Jamie Tatum, Soccer Darby Thayer
