OU’s Katelyn Whittle and Xander Karagosian honored by MAC with Medal of Excellence Award recognition

Graduate student Katelyn Whittle (Glenwood, Md.) of the Ohio University field hockey team and redshirt sophomore Xander Karagosian (Jackson, Ohio) of the Ohio University football team were named as Mid-American Conference Medal of Excellence Award winners for the 2023-24 academic year, the league announced recently.
 
The Medal of Excellence is an award presented annually to one male and one female student-athlete from the graduating class of each of the 12 Conference member institutions.
 
Whittle concluded her five-year playing career with Ohio this past fall and sports a 3.934 GPA while earning a master's degree in Ohio's MBA/MSA dual program. Whittle finished last season with the best athletic performance of her career, winning MAC Offensive Player of the Year after scoring a career-high 18 goals, nine assists and 45 points for the Bobcats.

Her performance moved her up to third all-time in career goals, fifth in goals in a season, third in points in a single season and fourth in career points. In a career-defining moment on Senior Night, Whittle scored a career-high five goals against Bellarmine (Oct. 20), adding two assists for a total of 12 points in one game, a Bobcat record.
 
Along with earning MAC Offensive Player of the Year honors, in 2023 Whittle also earned a spot on the All-West Region First Team, All-MAC First Team and was named Academic All-MAC. She is a two-time All-MAC Second Team selection, a four-time Academic All-MAC selection and earned MAC Offensive Player of the Week honors three times in her career.
 
Off the field, Whittle has made an impact, developing and leading Ohio's chapter of Morgan's Message, an organization that promotes taking the stigma out of mental health and student athletes. Whittle helps lead the charge that has at least one event from all Ohio's sports host a Morgan's Message game a season, where the group helps educate fans and fellow student athletes on the importance of mental health awareness.  
 
Karagosian has been a member of the Ohio football team since 2022 and this May earned his undergraduate degree in finance with a minor in sport management, while holding a 3.40 GPA. Karagosian is an active member of SAAC, where he served as interim president this past year. His natural leadership skills helped Karagosian transition seamlessly into the role, where he immediately began delegating and filling vacant positions.
 
Karagosian was also recently accepted into the Schey Sales Center, where he will continue to polish his business prowess and networking skills.
 
To be honored with the Medal of Excellence Award, student-athletes had to participate on the varsity level in a conference sponsored sport and shown evidence of academic success with a minimum 3.50 accumulative grade-point average, exhibited athletics excellence, leadership and service. Selection of the recipients was made by each MAC institution.
 
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