Payton II Wins Hayward Award
June 07, 2016 | Men's Basketball
BEAVERTON, Ore. – Oregon State swept the major honors at the Oregon Sports Awards, which were held Monday evening at Nike World Headquarters. Women's basketball coach Scott Rueck was named the Slats Gill Sportsperson of the Year, while Gary Payton II and Jamie Weisner were tabbed as the Bill Hayward Amateur Athletes of the Year. The Beaver women's basketball team was also selected as one of the George Pasero Teams of the Year.
Payton II beat out nominees DeForest Buckner (Oregon football) and Ryan Crouser (Texas track and field) to take the Hayward Amateur Athlete of the Year honor, an award his father won back in 1989. Gary Payton and Gary Payton II are the first father-son combination to win the Hayward Award, and Payton II becomes the first Oregon State men's basketball player to earn the honor since his father. Payton II was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and an All-Pac-12 honoree in both of his seasons with the Beavers. During his senior campaign, he became the second player in program history to lead Oregon State in points, rebounds, assists and steals and helped guide the Beavers to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1990.
Rueck, who split the award with the Sportsman of the Year honor with Portland Timbers' coach Caleb Porter, led the Beavers to the first Final Four in program history this season. Oregon State finished the year with a school-record 32 wins, and notched Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles. Along the way, the Beavers recorded marquee victories over national powers Baylor, Stanford, UCLA and Arizona State, and came within one point of defeating Notre Dame in South Bend. Off the floor, the Beavers set a school record with eight Pac-12 All-Academic honorees. For his efforts, Rueck finished second in the voting for AP National Coach of the Year, and was one of four finalists for the Naismith Trophy National Coach of the Year. Rueck is the first Oregon State coach to win the Slats Gill Sportsman of the Year award since Mike Riley did so in 2008, and is the first ever Beaver women's basketball coach to take the honor.
Weisner is the first Oregon State female athlete to win the Hayward Award in a decade, and the first women's basketball player to take the honor since Felicia Ragland in 2001. The Clarkston, Wash. native, who edged teammate Ruth Hamblin and Cheridan Hawkins (Oregon softball) to win the award, was named a First Team All-American and Pac-12 Player of the Year for her stellar senior season. Weisner averaged 17.3 points per game, and shot 48 percent from the floor, best among Pac-12 guards by over six percent. She finished her career with 1,777 points, the sixth-highest total in program history. Weisner played her best in the big games, going 9-for-10 from the floor to lift the Beavers to a win over Arizona State, and putting up 38 points against DePaul in the Sweet 16.
The Beavers women's basketball team split the Team of the Year honors. Oregon State has set a new school record for victories in each of the last three seasons, and has won the Pac-12 regular season crown in back-to-back years. The Beavers will welcome in the highest rated recruiting class in team history next season, as they look to continue their tradition of excellence.
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