NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State Athletics Department announced today its major award winners for the 2020-21 academic year. Baseball player Danny Hosley and track and field sprinter Kiara Grant have been named the Male and Female Athletes of the Year, respectively.
 
In addition, Siera Jones of NSU volleyball was named the Female Scholar Athlete of the Year for having the highest GPA in the department among non-freshmen. Men's tennis players Federico Rebecchini and Ibrahim Abbas shared the Male Scholar Athlete of the Year Award. All three have perfect 4.0 cumulative GPAs.
 
Hosley became just the second Spartan baseball player to earn the MEAC Player of the Year Award. He was named first-team All-MEAC at shortstop and second-team All-MEAC at pitcher. A finalist for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, Hosley earned MEAC All-Tournament Team honors after leading NSU to its first-ever conference title.
 
A native of Vienna, Virginia, he hit .357 this year with 27 runs, eight doubles and 24 RBI. In the circle, Hosley went 7-2 with a 4.01 ERA, striking out 84 in 76.1 innings of work. He was a six-time MEAC weekly honoree, including four Pitcher of the Week awards and two Player of the Week awards.
 
Grant earned the fifth All-America honor of her illustrious career, finishing third in the 60 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships for first-team All-American accolades. She became the second-highest finisher ever on the NSU women's side at an NCAA championship, only behind Debbie Dunn's second-place showing at the 200 meters at the 2000 NCAA Indoor Championships. Grant, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, was voted the VaSID All-State Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
 
In addition to competing indoors, Grant ran the 100 and 200 meters at the NCAA East Regional, finishing 19^th at the meet in the 100. She led the 4x100 relay to a second-place finish at the MEAC Outdoor Championships and also placed third in the 100 meters at the meet.
 
The track and field program has now won the last five female athletes of the year awards, including Martha Bissah in 2017, '18 and '19 and Kiara Howell in 2016. Awards were not handed out in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Jones is a sophomore majoring in mass communications. Abbas is also a sophomore, majoring in electronics engineering. Rebecchini, a junior who transferred from ODU last fall, is pursuing a degree in business entrepreneurship. All three were recently named to the VaSID Academic All-State Team.