Colorado Springs, Colo. (May 28, 2023) – The 2023 Callahan Award ceremonies took place at the 2023 College Championships, held in Mason, OH.
In 2023, Justin Burnett from Emory University Juice and Abby Hecko from University of Washington Element were announced as the most valuable players in the college division, an award voted on by players from the college division.
For Emory University, Burnett makes history as the first athlete from Juice to win the award. Burnett is a team captain and four-year team MVP (Callahan Video).
For the University of Washington, Hecko marks the second athlete from Element to win the award (Callahan Video). Shannon O’Malley won the Callahan Award in 2010. Hecko and O’Malley winning the award gives Washington a tie for second place all-time in Callahan Awards won in the women’s division (Dartmouth, Oregon, Stanford, and Wisconsin all have two).
Founded in 1996 by Charles Kerr, the award is named after Henry Callahan, an ultimate player and one of the sport’s original organizers. Each year, the Callahan is awarded to the most valuable players in college ultimate, as voted on by their peers.
The top five finalists in each division, in alphabetical order, were as follows:
2023 Men’s Division Finalists:
- Andrew Li – North Carolina
- Calvin Brown – Cal Poly-SLO
- Calvin Stoughton – Colorado
- Henry Ing – Pittsburgh
- Justin Burnett – Emory
2023 Women’s Division Finalists:
- Abby Hecko – Washington
- Alex Barnett – North Carolina
- Madison Ong – British Columbia
- Margo Donahue – California-Davis
- Sara Liang – Carnegie Mellon