Gomez, Kimbrell earn Athlete of the Year honors

July 2, 9:16 PMCollege Wrestling ExaminerMark Palmer

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Franklin Gomez, Michigan State
(Photo/official MSU wrestling
website)

Franklin Gomez of Michigan State, and Thomas Kimbrell of Cal State Bakersfield are two more examples of college wrestlers who are winners out on the mat… and in the classroom.

Gomez earns Michigan State’s highest athletic award. Franklin Gomez, 2009 NCAA Division I 133-pound wrestling champ, was named Alderton Male Athlete of the Year, MSU’s highest athletic award for 2008-09.

"Franklin is very deserving of this prestigious award," said Spartans wrestling head coach Tom Minkel. "He is the consummate student-athlete as he's an honor student and is very involved in his church as well. He is everything you would want in a student-athlete, and we're thrilled for him that he is the recipient of this award.”

As a junior this past season, Gomez finished the year with an impressive 27-2 record. At the 2009 Big Ten championships, he captured his second consecutive conference title. Two weeks later, at the 2009 NCAAs, the native of the Dominican Republic defeated five ranked opponents to become the 19th wrestler in Michigan State history to win an individual national title.

Through three years of varsity competition, Gomez’s career record stands at 91-12 overall, including a mark of 46-6 in dual meets.

Gomez's academic credentials are equally impressive as his statistics on the mat. In addition to earning Academic All-Big Ten honors this season, Gomez was also named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Individual All-Academic Team. The human resources major currently sports a 3.14 GPA.

Franklin Gomez becomes the fourth Big Ten wrestler to earn his school’s male athlete of the year honors, joining J Jaggers of Ohio State, Steve Luke of the University of Michigan, and Jake Herbert of Northwestern. The Big Ten conference named Herbert its 2009 Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year.

Thomas Kimbrell, Cal State
Bakersfield (Photo/official
CSUB wrestling website)

Kimbrell earns Pac-10 honor. Thomas Kimbrell of Cal State Bakersfield was named the 2009 Pacific-10 Conference Wrestling Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The award, granted to one student-athlete in each of the Pac-10’s 22 sponsored sports, was established to honor collegiate student-athletes who are standouts both academically and athletically.

In order to be eligible for the Pac-10 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior in athletics eligibility who is on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50% of the scheduled contests in their sport and have a minimum of one year in residence at their institution. Winners are selected by a committee of Pac-10 staff members and receive a commemorative award. In addition, the presenter of the award, Toyo Tires, donates $1,000 to the scholarship funds of the institution’s athletic department of each winner in recognition of their accomplishments.

Kimbrell, a political science major who graduated this spring with a 3.73 GPA, completed his most successful season on the mat, placing fifth at the Pac-10 conference championships and earning a bid to the NCAA Division I championships before finishing the year with a 26-14 record.

Kimbrell was equally impressive in the classroom. Among his academic honors at CSUB: 2009 Thomas Watts Peace Foundation Award in Political Science and History, the 2008 President’s Award for Best Research Paper, the McNair Scholarship, acceptance into McNair Scholars Program for PhD candidates, second place in the 2008 university-wide student research competition and induction into the Alpha Chi Honors Society in 2007. He also was honored as a 2009 first team Pac-10 All-Academic selection (his third straight, after being named to the second team his freshman year), and was also named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic Team for a second consecutive year.

Resources

December 2006 InterMat profile on Franklin Gomez as a Michigan State freshman