INDIANAPOLIS – University of Indianapolis senior diver Cade Hammond have each earned the 2023 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award as the league's male athlete of the year, the Conference office announced Friday.

The awards are bestowed annually by the GLVC to one male and one female student-athlete who display academic excellence, athletic ability and achievement, character, and leadership. It is named in honor of former GLVC Commissioner, as well as coach and director of athletics at Saint Joseph's College. University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball graduate student Charlotte Richards also garnered the honor this year.

Hammond and Richards will be formally recognized Tuesday, May 23, at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car GLVC Awards Reception in St. Charles, Mo.

After Payton Staman won a share of the award in 2019-20, Hammond becomes the second diving student-athlete from UIndy to claim the GLVC's top student-athlete honor, while he is the fourth overall male student-athlete to be selected from the school and third in the last four years. In his final season as a Greyhound, Hammond was named GLVC Co-Diver of the Year at the Swimming & Diving Championships after breaking the GLVC record in the 3-meter (614.25) to earn gold and finishing runner-up in the 1-meter (583.10). At the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships, the senior placed third (513.15) and sixth (499.80) in the 1-meter and 3-meter, respectively, earning All-America honors in both events. In 2021, the Brighton, Mich., native won the first-ever diving National title in UIndy history, claiming the top spot in the 1-meter, while also placing fourth in the 3-meter. In total, Hammond was named an All-American seven times, while helping the Greyhounds to two GLVC Championships – 2020 and 2022 – and a National Championship in 2023.

Academically, Hammond excelled in the classroom where he carried a 3.75 GPA in Criminal Justice, making the Dean's List twice and Honor Roll four times through last fall. A four-time College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America First Team honoree and Academic All-American in 2022 and 2023, Hammond was also named to the Academic All-GLVC team four times and selected as a team representative at the 2020-21 GLVC Character Plus Initiative.

Additionally, he has served as a teaching assistant for three years, helping with setting up mock crime scenes and other experiential activities to assist students during the labs and to role play crime victims, witnesses, and suspects. In the summer of 2021, he interned with the Detroit Office of Homeland Security.