Eastern Illinois Athletics has named Cornell Johnston from men’s basketball and Maria Baldwin from women’s cross country/track as the 2015 EIU Male and Female Newcomers of the Year. The award, which is being selected for the first time this year, honors the top male and female newcomer to EIU Athletics (freshman or transfer). Five finalists were announced for each award at the EIU Academic/Athletic Honors Banquet in April. The winners were voted on by a panel in June.
Johnston was a catalyst for the EIU men’s basketball team this past season as he helped the Panthers post only their second winning season since 2001 when the Panthers played in the NCAA Tournament. This year’s team was the first to play in the postseason since that 2001 season as EIU advanced to the second round of the CollegeInsiders.com Tournament (CIT). Johnston averaged 9.1 points as he was named the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and to the OVC All-Newcomer team. His 4.7 assists per game ranked third in the league while he set the EIU freshman assists record with 156. Johnston set the EIU single season record for 3-point shooting percentage going 55-of-106 as he led the OVC at 51.9 percent. He was the only Panther to play in all 33 games as EIU finished the year 18-15. Johnston is from St. Louis and attended Ladue HS.
Baldwin was one of the top runners on the EIU women’s cross country team in the fall as she earned OVC Freshman of the Year honors. She was a second team All-OVC performer placing 14th at the OVC Championships with a time of 17:59.98. She participated in the NCAA Midwest Regional and during the season posted the 10th best 5K time in school history. During the indoor track season she was part of the Panthers OVC Indoor Championship squad running the 3K and 5K during the year. She posted the seventh best 3K time (10:05.17) in school history and fifth best 5K time in school history (17:33.87). During the outdoor season Baldwin had the fourth best time in school history in the 5K finishing at 17:16.90. She ran the 3K at the Indiana Billy Hayes meet posting the third best time in school history. Baldwin is from Toluca, Ill., and attended Minonk Fieldcrest HS.
The men’s finalists for the EIU Newcomer of the Year included Johnston, Trae Anderson (basketball), Nick Bruno (football), Norvel Mohammed (track) and Jalen Whitlow (football).
The women’s finalists for EIU Newcomer of the Year included Baldwin, Allie Hueston (volleyball), Nyjah Lane (track), Amy Smith (swimming) and Grace Summers (tennis).
