Two of the most storied careers in the history of Penn State athletics came to a close this year, but not before each earned one final accolade.

After a year in which men's gymnast Casey Sandy earned the Nissen-Emery Award and women's volleyball player Nicole Fawcett helped lead the volleyball team to a national championship, the two athletes were honored by Penn State as the school's male and female athletes of the year. The award is Sandy's second in as many years and is the first for Fawcett.

"Obviously this accomplishment is really high up for me," Fawcett said. "Just because of the success a lot of the women's sports have had and just individual people working hard, it's really nice."

Fawcett, who is the only volleyball player to earn the award since Lauren Cacciamani did so in 2000, couldn't pinpoint exactly what made her more deserving of the award than other Nittany Lion athletes. When asked why she thought the University selected her, Fawcett was quick to mention the hard work and dedication of her teammates.

"I think it's really hard to pick just one person," Fawcett said. "I know for myself I just wanted to play the game and play the best I could and represent Penn State because they've done so much for me and given me so many opportunities."

As for Sandy, the first word that came to his mind when he learned of winning the award was "awesome."

The award makes Sandy just the second Penn State athlete to be honored in two consecutive years since the award was created in 1992, joining former football player Paul Posluszny.

"This ranks really high," Sandy said. "Being named athlete of the year is always a great honor and this award came because of a lot of hard work. I was at the gym all the time and I worked hard and listened to my coaches."

One of the coaches who Sandy spent a lot of time listening to was assistant men's gymnastics coach, Kevin Tan. Tan was a recipient of the award in 2004 and is someone Sandy looks up to both as a coach and as a role model.

"Winning athlete of the year is such a prestigious honor," Tan said. "And now after being in the coaching seat for awhile and to see a kid like Casey Sandy, just upstanding and very respectful to receive that award is very nice to see."

Tan said regardless of the situation, Sandy came prepared and levelheaded to every practice and competition, and his work ethic coupled with his determination made him the foundation of the team.

"He was a very special kid," Tan said. "And not only just what he's done in gymnastics, but the career he had here, he's done it all very humbly and he's just an all around great guy."