DALLAS – Conference USA unveiled its 2021-22 Michael L. Slive Male and Female Athletes of the Year on Thursday in WKU QB Bailey Zappe, who was football’s Most Valuable Player, and Rice’s Grace Forbes, who was both Cross Country and Track Athlete of the Year for the Owls.
 
Zappe rewrote the record books in his lone season at WKU with the Hilltoppers, breaking the NCAA single-season records for passing yards (5,967 yards) and passing touchdowns (62). He led the nation in passing yards by 1,095 and touchdowns by 15.

A fourth round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, he was named the Conference USA Football Most Valuable Player while helping the Hilltoppers to a C-USA East Division title and a convincing win in the Boca Raton Bowl, where he was named MVP.
 
The NCAA passing record Zappe broke had stood since 2003, while he also broke the touchdown record set by Joe Burrow in his prolific 2019 season at LSU.

Zappe also won the 2021 Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award and he was named a finalist for the Manning Award, as well as a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien and Walter Camp Player of the Year awards.

Zappe is just the sixth quarterback in FBS history to achieve a season with at least 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns.
 
Forbes, repeated as the C-USA champion in cross country as she finished with a 6K time of 20:24.0 to become the league’s first back-to-back champion since Rice’s Cali Roper in 2014 and 2015. The sophomore went on to win the NCAA South Central Regional to help her team qualify for the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2010, where she finished 45^th overall. Forbes won five of her seven races on the year, finishing second in another and was named the C-USA Athlete of the Week three times.  Additionally, Forbes earned a spot on the C-USA All-Academic Team.
 
Forbes earned her second-straight First Team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoors in the 10,000m, finishing as the national runner-up with a time of 32:48.07. It was the highest finish by an Owl at the outdoor championships since 2001. She's finished in the top two in all four of her 10,000m races during the outdoor season and had the fastest time in the event out of both the west and east preliminary meets. Forbes also claimed the 5,000m and 10,000m titles at the C-USA Outdoor Championships, giving her nine individual titles on her career across the indoor and outdoor seasons.
 
The 2021-22 slate marked the 19^th season that C-USA honored Male and Female Athletes of the Year, and the fifth that the awards have been named in remembrance of C-USA’s founding commissioner Mike Slive following his passing. The winners are determined by a vote of the conference’s Athletics Directors.

Conference USA Michael L. Slive Athletes of the Year
2021-22           Bailey Zappe, WKU football/Grace Forbes, Rice cross country and track & field
2020-21           Vitor Dias, Marshall men’s soccer & Kigen Chemadi, Middle Tennessee track & field/
                        Anastasia Hayes, Middle Tennessee women’s basketball
2019-20           Javion Hamlet, North Texas men’s basketball/Erica Ogwumike, Rice women’s basketball
2018-19            Jake Sanford, WKU baseball/ Erica Ogwumike, Rice women’s basketball
2017-18            Nick Sandlin, Southern Miss baseball/Alyssa Cavanaugh, WKU volleyball
2016-17            Emmanuel Korir, UTEP track & field/Morgan Zerkle, Marshall softball
2015-16            Brandon Doughty, WKU football/Kylee Hanson, Florida Atlantic softball
2014-15            Anthony Rotich, UTEP track & cross country/Miranda Kramer, WKU softball
2013-14            Anthony Rotich, UTEP track & cross country/Ebony Rowe, Middle Tennessee basketball
2012-13            Anthony Rotich, UTEP track & cross country/Aurieyall Scott, UCF track & field
2011-12             Case Keenum, Houston football/Camilla Carrera, UTEP softball
2010-11            Chad Zurcher, Memphis baseball/Tori Bowie, Southern Miss track & field
2009-10           Anthony Rendon, Rice baseball/Blessing Okagbare, UTEP track & field
2008-09          Jason Colwick, Rice track & field/
                        Toni Paisley, ECU softball & Sara Radosevic, Tulane volleyball
2007-08          Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis basketball/Angel Shamblin, Houston softball
2006-07          Joe Savery, Rice baseball/Ebonie Floyd, Houston track & field
2005-06          Brad Lincoln, Houston baseball & DeAngelo Williams, Memphis football/
                        Jillian Robbins, Tulsa basketball
2004-05          Lance Broadway, TCU baseball/Sandora Irvin, TCU basketball
2003-04          Michael Kogan, Tulane tennis/Chandi Jones, Houston basketball