The male Panther of the Year is going to MJ Flowers from the football team.
The redshirt freshman running back from Cincinnati, Ohio, rushed for 854 yards and had 1,046 all-purpose yards.
Both are the most in a season since 2016 when Devin Church ran for 1,066 yards and had 1,526 all-purpose yards.
Flowers’ 854 rushing yards are second among Football Champion Subdivision freshman running backs.
Flowers also recorded four rushing touchdowns in a game against Tennessee State this season.
The last time a Panther had four rushing touchdowns in a game was J.R Taylor against Florida Atlantic University in 2002.
Flowers earned Big South-OVC Offensive Freshman of the Year and first-team All-Big South-OVC.
Flowers is also an FCS Freshman All-American, a first team freshman All-American via Stats Perform and a first team freshman All-American via Phil Steele.
Flowers was also the runner-up for the Jerry Rice FCS Freshman of the Year Award.
The female Panther of the Year is going to Macy McGlone from the basketball team.
The junior forward from Greenville, Wisconsin, helped lead the Panthers to a 15-18 overall record, an 11-7 conference record and their fifth straight appearance in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
McGlone was also named the 2023-2024 OVC Player of the Year, the 2023-2024 Defensive Player of the Year, and McGlone was also named part of the 2023-2024 First Team All-OVC at the end of the regular season.
While at Eastern this season, McGlone recorded a career-high 33 points against Morehead State as she had 14 games where she scored 20 or more points for the Panthers.
McGlone recorded a total of 588 points this season as she averaged 17.8 points per game.
McGlone also recorded a total of 392 rebounds, 55 assists and 35 steals throughout the 2023-2024 season.
McGlone also recorded 26 double-doubles throughout the 2023-2024 season at Eastern.
The Panther coach of the Year is going to Sara Thomas from the volleyball team.
Thomas, the 13th head coach in program history, went from a 16-16 overall record in 2022 to a 28-5 overall record in 2023.
Thomas coached the Panthers to record 15 3-0 wins this season.
Thomas also coached the Panthers to win the OVC regular season title and the OVC Tournament.
With the tournament win, the Panthers clinched a spot in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament for the first time since 2001.
Thomas coached OVC Player of the Year senior outside hitter Giovana Larregui López along with sophomore setter Catalina Rochaix, who was named OVC Setter of the Year after the regular 2023 season.
Along with Larregui López and Rochaix, Thomas coached two other All-OVC First Team players: senior libero/defensive specialist Christina Martinez Mundo and graduate right side hitter Natalie Mitchem.
Thomas was also named OVC Coach of the Year at the end of the 2023 regular season.
Zaria Flippin can be reached at 581-2812 or zhflippin@eiu.edu.
