EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Athletics announced that Men’s Golf junior Jason Bannister (Laguna Niguel, California) has been named the Old National Bank/USI Male Student Athlete of the Year, while Women’s Basketball junior guard Vanessa Shafford (Linton, Indiana) and Softball junior pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) have been named co-ONB/USI Female Student Athlete of the Year honorees.

Bannister had a record-breaking 2023-24 season for the Men’s Golf team. He earned All-Ohio Valley Conference honors and set the single-season school record with his 71.96 strokes-per-round average.

Individually, Bannister tied for fourth at the OVC Championship, one of three top-five finishes and five top-10 finishes on the year. Bannister was named the OVC Golfer of the Month for the second time in his career and helped lead USI to the best team-average in program history (291.62) as well as a fifth-place finish at the OVC Championship.

Shafford helped lead USI Women’s Basketball to a 25-7 overall record and a 17-1 mark in OVC play in 2023-24. She earned first-team All-OVC honors and helped lead the Screaming Eagles to both the OVC regular-season and OVC Tournament titles. USI also hosted a pair of WNIT games, defeating the University of Illinois Chicago in the opening round before nearly upending the University of Wisconsin in the second round.

Statistically, Shafford led USI in several categories, including points (13.6), rebounds (7.7) and minutes per game (30.0). She also had a team-best 46 steals and was named the co-OVC Player of the Week in January.

Newman earned third-team NFCA All-Midwest Region honors after being named the OVC Pitcher of the Year and first-team All-OVC during the 2024 softball season. She went 22-10 in the circle with a 1.77 ERA and set new career marks for wins, innings pitched (230), strikeouts (230) and complete games (30).

In 2024, Newman led the OVC in wins, innings and strikeouts and ranked in the top three of the OVC in ERA. She was twice named the OVC Pitcher of the Week and was named to the OVC All-Tournament team after picking up three wins and leading the Eagles to a third-place finish in the OVC Tournament.

Previous winners of the ONB/USI Male Student Athlete of the Year award were Duncan Bray (2003, 2004; soccer), Matt Keener (2005; baseball), Chris Thompson (2006; basketball), Melvin Hall (2007; basketball), Paul Jellema (2008; cross country/track), Shaun Larsen (2009; baseball), Jamar Smith (2010; basketball), Trevor Leach (2011; baseball), Dustin Emerick (2012; cross country & track), Michael Jordan (2013; cross country & track), Johnnie Guy (2014, 2016; cross country & track), Tyler Pence (2015, cross country & track), Jeril Taylor (2017, basketball), Alex Stein (2018, 2019; basketball), Josh Price (2021; basketball), Titus Winders (2022; cross country/track & field) and Noah Hufnagel (2023; cross country/track & field). The award was not presented in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Past winners of the ONB/USI Female Student Athlete of the Year award were Shannon Wells (2003, volleyball), Jenny Farmer (2004; cross country/track), Heather Cooksey (2005; cross country/track), Laura Ellerbusch (2006; volleyball), Allison Shafer (2007; cross country/track), Kristin Eickholt (2008; softball), Mary Ballinger (2009, 2010; cross country/track), Danielle LaGrange (2011, 2012; volleyball), Susan Ellsperman (2013; soccer), Anna Hackert (2014; basketball), MacKenzie Dorsam (2015; softball), Haley Hodges (2016 & 2017; softball) and Emily Roberts (2016; cross country/track), Kaydie Grooms (2018; basketball), Jennifer Leonhardt (2019; softball), Jennifer Comastri (2021; cross country/track & field), Cameron Hough (2022; cross country/track & field) and Allie Goodin (2024; softball). The award was not presented in 2020 due to COVID-19.