Ex-Volleyball Star Taryn Kloth Earns Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award

NEW YORK – DePaul men's track and field standout Kyle Decker and former Creighton women's volleyball outside hitter Taryn Kloth have been chosen as the winners of the 2018-19 BIG EAST Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award, as selected by the BIG EAST Conference Academic Affairs Committee.

The awards are given to one male and one female student-athlete from a BIG EAST-sponsored sport who have been admitted to a degree-granting or professional program for the following academic year and who have demonstrated leadership through excellence in academic credentials, athletic performance and depth of commitment to service within the institution or the community.

Decker and Kloth will each receive a $5,000 scholarship, which may be applied to postgraduate study. The award is named for Michael Tranghese, the BIG EAST's first full-time employee who served as commissioner of the conference from 1990 to 2009 and embodied leadership and dedication from the league's inception.

Decker is the first DePaul student-athlete to receive this honor. Kloth is the second student-athlete from Creighton to earn the award, and the first female, as former Bluejay men's tennis player Harrison Lang won the scholarship in 2017. Kloth is also the second volleyball player, as Shelby Manthrope of Seton Hall won it in 2015.

Decker had been admitted to attending medical school at Loyola University of Chicago. Kloth has been accepted into the MBA program at LSU, where she now plays Beach Volleyball. Playing primarily in the No. 4 doubles slot, Kloth is 9-7 this spring in the sand while competing for the nation's fourth-ranked beach volleyball team.

Decker, a team captain and biological sciences major, is a seven-time individual BIG EAST champion. In the 2019 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships presented by Jeep, he ran a 8.12 PR in the 60-meter hurdles to win the event for the fourth-straight year, becoming the eighth male athlete to win four BIG EAST Indoor Championship titles, the first since 1997and for the Blue Demons. He has won the outdoor 110-meter hurdles three times and has helped DePaul to two team championships. Academically, Decker was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team twice (2017, 2018). He won the 2018 BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award for Men's Indoor Track & Field and he is a three-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team. Decker has been a research assistant in DePaul's chemistry department since November 2016 and was a DePaul University Presidential Scholarship recipient. Decker served as the BIG EAST Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's Officer of Diversity and Inclusion in 2017 and was a participant in the 2018 BIG EAST Well-Being Forum in Indianapolis, Ind. For the past two years, Decker has committed 300 hours of service to Northwestern Memorial Hospital Emergency Department. Decker is a pursuing a concentration in medicine and health with a minor in chemistry. He enters his final months of school with a cumulative GPA of 3.99.

Kloth, a finance services major, has been a starting outside hitter on the Creighton volleyball team since her freshman season. She has been a part of four BIG EAST regular season and four BIG EAST tournament championships with the Bluejays as well as an NCAA Elite Eight run in 2016. She was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team twice (2016, 2018), unanimously in 2018. In 2017, she earned All-BIG EAST Second Team honors and was the BIG EAST Tournament Most Valuable Player. Kloth was also a member of the All-Tournament team in 2018. Nationally, Kloth earned American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America honorable mention in 2016 and 2018. She was also an AVCA All-East Region honorable mention in 2017. In the classroom, Kloth has been recognized as a Senior CLASS Award Second Team All-American and a 2018 CoSIDA Third Team Academic All-American as she boasts a cumulative GPA of 3.87. She is a three-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team. She received internal recognition from Creighton as a recipient of the Financial Executives International scholarship as a junior. In addition to her work in the classroom and on the court, Kloth has contributed hours of community service through many different programs both on campus and off through Project Harmony, St. Pius for Children clinic, Hope Center for Kids and more.

The Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership award is one of a number of scholarships presented by the BIG EAST Conference during the 2018-19 academic year. In addition to this award, which was introduced for the 2010-11 academic year, 20 student-athletes (one male and one female from each of the BIG EAST's 10 member institutions) have been named as the winners of the BIG EAST Institutional Scholar-Athlete Scholarships. The conference also names male and female BIG EAST Basketball Scholar-Athletes of the Year.

Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award

2019
Kyle Decker, DePaul, Track & Field
Taryn Kloth, Creighton, Volleyball

2018
Alex Wolfred, Xavier, Swimming
Carly Alfano, Xavier, Women's Soccer

2017
Harrison Lang, Creighton, Men's Tennis
Caroline Hamilton, Villanova, Track & Field

2016
Zachary Mueck, Xavier, Men's Tennis
Emily Cubbage, St. John's, Women's Soccer

2015
Shawn Heide, St. John's, Baseball
Shelby Manthorpe, Seton Hall, Volleyball

2014
James Roebker, Xavier, Tennis
Chloe Sher, Seton Hall, Tennis

2013
Michael Moore, Notre Dame, Tennis
Kaci Madden, Rutgers, Softball

2012
Benjamin Forrest, Rutgers, Cross Country/Track & Field
Allison Schroeder, Notre Dame, Cross Country/Track & Field

2011
Tyler Davis, Notre Dame, Tennis
Amy Zhang, Rutgers, Tennis

Ex-Volleyball Star Taryn Kloth Earns Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award

Players Mentioned

Taryn Kloth

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