He came to Incarnate Word unheralded and now, four years later, amongst all the accolades Pierce Caldwell is finishing his basketball career as the UIW Male Athlete of the Year for 2009-2010.
This is the 12th spring the athletic department at Incarnate Word has named a male athlete of the year. To be eligible for the ballot, an athlete must have been selected as male athlete of the week sometime during the schoolyear. Four times during 2009-2010 Caldwell did just that.
While his honors and statistics resemble those from a year ago, or for that matter his sophomore campaign, they demonstrate Caldwell's staying power and his ability to compete at a high level.
This past season for the third year he was honorable mention All-America by Division II BULLETIN. He was Daktronics All-South Central Region second team. For the third time he was Heartland Conference player of the year and for the second time Heartland tournament MVP. And, of course, he was All-Heartland Conference, again.
He was ranked among the nation's leaders statistically in Division II for 2009-2010. He was 12th in free throw percentage (.892), 20th in three-point field goals per game (3.1), and 34th in three-point field goal percentage (.410). In the Heartland he was first in both free throw percentage and three-point field goals made. He was second in scoring (18.1).
Midway through the basketball season Caldwell finished off his school record 61 consecutive free throws made without a miss. His 544 points in the season upped his career total to 1,873 and that is now second on the all-time UIW list of points. In January he had his personal career high 35 points in a game on his way to scoring double figure points in 25 of 30 games. He scored 20-plus points 13 times.
Caldwell came to UIW determined to prove he belonged and he departs as the athletic department's top male athlete for this single season.
UIW MALE ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
1998-1999 KaHarri Clopton Basketball
1999-2000 Edward Armstrong Basketball
2000-2001 Chris Olivares Basketball
2001-2002 Jamar Love Basketball
2002-2003 Ricardo Lara Soccer
2003-2004 Ricardo Lara Soccer
2004-2005 Lubomir Bogdanov Soccer
2005-2006 Blake Weston Baseball
2006-2007 Jason Gant Basketball
2007-2008 Aliaksandr Yatsko Swimming
2008-2009 Aliaksandr Yatsko Swimming
2009-2010 Pierce Caldwell Basketball
