Six Colorado State athletes were recognized by the athletic department for their success both on and off the field Thursday. Ellen Nystrom, Haley Hutton, Janelle Lincks, Jerrell Mock, Josh Cogdill and Mostafa Hassan were honored by the university for various accomplishments, including the most outstanding male and female athletes, and a litany of academic feats as well.

Women’s basketball player Ellen Nystrom received the Virginia K. Frank Award, which honors the most outstanding female athlete. 

Nystrom recently completed her historic collegiate career, which featured four consecutive Mountain West Championships and two MW Athlete of the Year honors (2016 and 2017). Nystrom was also named the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Female College Athlete of the Year, the Sportswomen of Colorado Basketball Player of the Year and was a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award. 

For a second straight year, Mostafa Hassan (Track & Field) received the Nye Trophy, which is awarded to the most outstanding male athlete.

Coming off an extremely successful season in which he won the 2017 indoor NCAA title for the shot put event and also worked his way in the NCAA history books with his conference record-setting throw of 69-10.75 (21.30m), Hassan’s honor was well-earned.

Between the indoor and outdoor MW shot put titles this year, Hassan’s four individual conference titles rank second in league history. The Cairo, Egypt native also earned two First-Team All-America honors, was named Academic All-America and was selected to The Bowerman Award Watch List. Hassan ranks fourth in the world in the indoor shot put for 2017, and 14th in the world in the outdoor shot put. 

Along with Nystrom and Hassan’s honors, track & field’s Josh Cogdill and Janelle Lincks were honored as the most outstanding scholar athletes. Cogdill received the Merrill-Gheen Award and Lincks was honored with the Mencimer Memorial Award.

Cogdill became the second All-American in the decathlon in program history this year, placing 16th with 7,258 points at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for Second-Team All-America honors.

Off the field,  Cogdill graduated from CSU with a degree in mechanical engineering. The Longmont, Colo., native is a seven-time All-Mountain West performer, a four-time Academic All-Mountain West honoree and a four-time Mountain West Scholar Athlete.

Lincks became the fourth CSU athlete and the first since 2012 to earn All-America honors in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. The Thornton, Colo. native placed 12th in the event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, qualifying for the finals with a program-record time of 10:00.02 in the semifinals.

The 2017 MW champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Lincks is also a three-time All-Mountain West performer, a four-time Academic All-Mountain West honoree, a four-time MW Scholar-Athlete and has been named USTFCCCA All-Academic. In addition to owning the CSU all-time record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Lincks also ranks within CSU’s all-time top three in the 1,500 meters and the outdoor 5,000 meters.

Rounding out the honorees were Jerrell Mock (Cross country) and softball’s Haley Hutton, who each received the Thurman “Fum” McGraw Award, which is given to the “complete student-athlete” and is selected by their peers. Thurman “Fum” McGraw Award winners must show athletic and academic excellence, character, leadership, be involved in the community and represent the spirit of CSU.

Mock is a four-time All-American and won individual titles in both the indoor 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters this past season. For the cross country season, Mock was the MW runner-up on the men’s side, and earned All-Mountain West and USTFCCCA All-Region honors. 

Along with dominating the competition on the field, the biological sciences major was named First-Team Academic All-America by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), and is now a seven-time Academic All-Mountain West honoree, a seven-time Mountain West Scholar Athlete and a four-time USTFCCCA All-Academic honoree.

Finally, Hutton concluded her career as the first CSU player to be named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. The Platteville, Colo. native has now been named all-conference in all four years of her career, including two first team selections.

The middle infielder led the MW in defensive assists overall (135) and also batted .357 with a .455 on base percentage, on her way to setting CSU career records in batting average, runs scored and walks.

Collegian sports director Justin Michael can be reached by email at jmichael@collegian.com or Twitter @JustinTMichael.