Published: May 07, 2008 11:32 pm         

Banks, Nichols, Schmitt to share Schaus Award

MORGANTOWN — Women’s soccer captain Ashley Banks, men’s basketball captain Darris Nichols and football captain Owen Schmitt will share the 2008 Fred Schaus Captain’s Award, presented annually to West Virginia University’s most outstanding varsity team captain.

The winner must display outstanding sportsmanship and leadership, representing WVU well in all aspects. Winners are selected by the WVU Athletic Council, which voted this year to annually award the top male and female captains. There was a tie in voting for the men’s captaincy.

Banks, a four-year letter-winner and 2007 team captain, guided the Mountaineers to a Big East championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament’s Elite Eight in her senior season. The Mountaineers posted an 18-5-2 record, tying the school’s mark for most wins in a season.

In her senior campaign, the Annandale, Va., native led WVU with 38 points and 15 goals en route to being named the Big East’s Offensive Player of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection.

The Hermann Trophy semifinalist and NSCAA third-team All-American will graduate with a degree in forensic science and was named an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American and NSCAA Scholar All-American.

Nichols, a two-time team captain and native of Radford, Va., won the 2008 Big East Sportsmanship Award and appeared in a school record 141 consecutive games. His 141 games played also set a new school standard as he started 73 consecutive games at point guard during his junior and senior seasons.

He also set an NCAA record for most games played without fouling out (141).

Nichols guided WVU to the 2005 Elite Eight, 2006 Sweet 16, 2007 NIT championship and 2008 Sweet 16. He posted 399 assists in 3,528 career minutes during his career. He also tallied 993 career points. He is a graduate in sociology.

Schmitt, a Fairfax, Va., native and one of the school’s all-time most-recognized and inspirational football players, guided WVU to three straight New Year’s Day bowl victories, including wins over Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl and Oklahoma in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl.

He finished his career with 1,003 rushing yards, scoring 13 total touchdowns. Schmitt helped WVU remain in the nation’s Top 10 in each of the last three seasons, which included the school’s best three-year record at 33-5 since 2005.

The award was started to honor the retirement of Fred Schaus, who had outstanding success as a Mountaineer basketball player, coach and athletic director.