SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State University soccer sensation Kyle Hiebert was announced Friday as the winner of the 2019 Virgil Cheek Award.
 
The annual honor is bestowed on the graduating MSU senior male student-athlete best demonstrating high qualities in scholarship, character, attendance, leadership and athletic performance. The award has been presented annually since 1955 and is named in honor of the long-time Missouri State faculty athletics representative and business faculty member.
 
Voting is conducted by Missouri State's six men's intercollegiate athletics head coaches.
 
Hiebert graduated in May with a 4.0 grade-point average in accounting after earning All-MVC second team and USSC All-West Region third team honors in 2018.
 
Likewise, he was named a CoSIDA Academic All-America first team selection this year in addition to academic distinction as an MVC Scholar-Athlete first team, CoSIDA Academic All-District VI and MVC Scholar-Athlete Spotlight honoree.
 
The native of La Salle, Manitoba served as MSU team captain this past season. He started all 17 games and played in all but 45 of the minutes for the campaign. His prowess from the defender position helped lead the Bears to a 0.70 goals-against-average -- which was 16th-best in the nation -- and led the Bears to their first top-25 national ranking in nine years.
 
Other finalists for this year's award were (alphabetically): Jared Beshore (football), Brad Carpenter (golf), Kacper Cwiek (swimming and diving), Jarred Dixon (basketball) and Davis Schwab (baseball).
 
   
Past Virgil Cheek Award Recipients
•           1955 Jerry Anderson, basketball, track
•           1956 Ron Whitaker, football
•           1957 George Simpson, track
•           1958 Max Oldham, basketball
•           1959 Russ Robinson, basketball
•           1960 Charlie Finley, football, track
•           1961 Jerry Stockard, basketball
•           1962 Carl Wilks, basketball
•           1963 Edsel Matthews, basketball
•           1964 Rich Johanningmeier, football
•           1965 Jerry Boyer, football
•           1966 Dan Young, football
•           1967 Bill Douglass, football, track
•           1968 Dennis Scott, football
•           1969 Danny Cook, baseball
•           1970 Bill Lamberson, track
•           1971 Chuck Williams, basketball
•           1972 Bob Curl, basketball, track
•           1973 Eric Thompson, basketball
•           1974 Randy Magers, basketball, baseball
•           1975 Bob Grana, football
•           1976 Kent Stringer, football
•           1977 John Prasuhn, track, cross country
•           1978 Terry Kasper, football, baseball
•           1979 Ron Snider, baseball
•           1980 Mitch Ware, football
•           1981 Bobby Biser, golf
•           1982 Mark Daniels, football
•           1983 Darrin Newbold, football
•           1984 Anthony Boggs, basketball
•           1985 Brian Smith, basketball
•           1986 Phil Schlegel, basketball
•           1987 Scott Hickox, basketball
•           1988 Preston Estes, football
•           1989 Scott Hartwig, football
•           1990 Chris Stange, basketball
•           1991 Jeff Eiserman, golf
•           1992 Tim McDuffey, football
•           1993 Chad Lakin, baseball
•           1994 Jim Prendergast, wrestling
•           1995 Chad Gardner, cross country, track
•           1996 Dan Kneeshaw, football, baseball
•           1997 Brad Barnes, soccer
•           1998 Neal McNamara, tennis
•           1999 Derek Jensen, football
•           2000 Brad St. Louis, football
•           2001 Matt White, football
•           2002 Jason Ringena, football
•           2003 Blake Boldon, cross country, track
•           2004 Rishi Garbharran, tennis
•           2005 Brad Durham, football
•           2006 Nathan Platz, soccer
•           2007 Mike Radon, football
•           2008 David Tillman, football
•           2009 Chris Playter, baseball
•           2010 Justin Fuehrmeyer, basketball
•           2011 David Arkin, football
•           2012 Heath Melugin, soccer
•           2013 Daily Young, golf
•           2014 Trevor Spangenberg, soccer
•           2015 Caleb Schaffitzel, football
•           2016 Sam Perez, baseball
•           2017 Dylan Cole, football
•           2018 Christopher Heye, swimming
•           2019 Kyle Hiebert, soccer