Frank Patano, Lauren Showers Named Butler's Top Athletes

Soccer player Frank Patano and golfer Lauren Showers have been named recpients of Butler’s Most Outstanding Athlete Award for 2008-09.  The two standout performers were among four student-athletes recognized by the Butler athletic department with year-ending awards.

Patano, a four-year starter on the Butler men’s soccer team, wrapped up his collegiate career last fall by leading the Horizon League in scoring for a second consecutive year and topping the Bulldogs for a third straight season.  He tallied a league-high 12 goals and added three assists for a league-best 27 points.  His 12 goals tied the eighth-highest single season total in Butler men’s soccer history and gave him a tie for 29th place on the 2008 NCAA Division I scoring chart.  He also led the Horizon League in game-winning goals with five.

The high-scoring Butler forward was named first team All-Horizon League in 2008, after earning second team All-League honors in 2007.  He was selected third team All-Great Lakes Region in both 2007 and 2008.  He finished in fifth place on Butler’s all-time list for goals scored (36) and sixth on the Bulldogs’ all-time list for points (83).

Showers wrapped up her career as just the second player in Horizon League history to be named to the women’s golf All-League team for four consecutive years!  She also became just the third player in Horizon League history to earn league All-Tournament recognition for four straight years.  She placed among the “Top 5” individuals at the league tournament in each of her four seasons, beating her sister, Lynnsey, in a playoff for medalist honors in 2006.

The Butler golf standout led the Bulldogs in scoring in 2007-08 (78.5) and in 2008-09 (80.5).  She finished second on the team in scoring as a freshman and third as a sophomore.  Showers set a Butler single round scoring record with a 69 at the Butler Fall Invitational in 2007, and she finished with a four-year scoring average of 79.9, second only to her sister (79.4) on Butler’s all-time scoring list.

Butler also recognized a pair of first-year athletes with the Frank “Pop” Hedden Award, which honors the outstanding male and female freshman student-athletes.  Men’s basketball player Gordon Hayward was named the male recipient of the Pop Hedden Award, while softball player Erin Falkenberry was tabbed as the female honoree.

Hayward was the second-leading scorer and rebounder for the 26-6 Bulldogs in 2008-09.  He was named Horizon League Newcomer of the Year, first team All-Horizon League, second team NABC All-District 12 and selected to the national All-Freshman Team by FoxSports.com and CollegeHoops.net.  Falkenberry set a Butler single season record for home runs with 11 in 2009, and she tied Butler’s single season record for runs batted in (38).  She was named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team.