INDIANAPOLIS (6/30/2020) -- University of Detroit Mercy men's soccer senior
Garret Weaver (Northville, Mich.) earned the highest honor you can receive from the Horizon League on Tuesday as he was announced as the male recipient of the 2019-20 Cecil N. Coleman Medal of Honor, it was announced by the league office.
The Coleman Medal of Honor, first awarded in 1981, is the Horizon League's most prestigious individual honor. The award is presented annually to the top male and female student-athletes who demonstrate outstanding achievement in academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities. Weaver was joined in earning the honor by IUPUI senior women's basketball student-athlete Holly Hoopingarner. Weaver is the second consecutive Titan male student-athlete to earn the individual accolade and seventh overall in 39 years.
Weaver, the Athletic Department's male President's Award winner for 2019-20, was a standout on the soccer pitch for the Titans this past school year, earning Second Team All-Horizon League laurels. The Northville, Michigan native, who holds a 3.89 GPA in Biology, was a two-time Horizon League All-Academic Team honoree as a junior and senior (2018, 2019) and as a junior was named a Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team member. Earlier in the school year, Weaver was named as one of 30 men's soccer candidates nationally for the Senior Class Award.
"What a fantastic honor for Garret," Titan men's soccer coach
Nicholas Deren '99 said. "He has shown true dedication for the past four years through his academic and athletic achievements. He's been a model student on and off the field. He represents everything in what a Horizon League student-athlete at the highest caliber should look like.
"Garret became a captain after his sophomore season for the soccer team and really exhibited his leadership and ability to communicate with others. He was there to help others in all times of need. He was the perfect teammate and student-athlete for someone to coach. The ability to help his soccer team and his academic teams as well will take him many places in this world, especially with him going into the medical field."
On the field, Weaver was a consistent standout as a defender for the Titans in 2019 and helped spearhead a defense that allowed a league-low seven goals in eight Horizon League matches this past season. He started the final 67 games in his Titan career from the middle of his freshman season and led the team in minutes played in each of the final three seasons in the red, white and blue. During his senior season, he never came off the field, playing all 1,752 minutes for the Titans and had a game-winning goal at Green Bay.
"I am honored and humbled to receive such a prestigious award, as well as proud to represent the Titan family in this Horizon League award," Weaver said. "Being on a list with other Titans who have received this award is a true honor."
During his time as a student on campus, Weaver worked at Detroit Mercy's Student Success Center, which provided student-centered academic support services throughout the school year. For two summers, he was part of the General Motors Student Corps, where he mentored high school students in Detroit, along with executing and creating community service projects around the city. He was part of the service fraternity on campus -- Alpha Phi Omega (APO) -- as well as the Pre-Med club. He volunteered at nearby Beaumont Hospital assisting in the Emergency Room.
Weaver, who holds a leadership minor, has already scored in the 88th percentile of his MCATs as he gears towards Medical School.
The Titans have had several student-athletes selected for the accolade, including two-straight male student-athletes earn the award after former cross country and track and field standout Ben Kendell was chosen after the 2018-19 school year. Weaver is the second men's soccer student-athlete to receive the award in the past six years as Matt Ybarra earned the laurel for the 2014-15 school year.
Weaver is the seventh Titan overall to receive the Coleman Medal of Honor overall and the fourth in the last six years joining Kendell in 2019, Sara Zawacki (women's soccer) in 2016 and Ybarra in 2015. The other Titans who have earned the accolade include Mary Parker (women's soccer) in 2007, Lori Caloia (softball) in 2000 and Ken Dubois (cross country/track and field) in 1988.
