Garza, Birch Named Iowa's Athletes Of The Year

Iowa men's basketball player Luka Garza and field hockey player Katie Birch were honored as the university's athletes of the year on Friday.

The two will be Iowa's nominees for the Big Ten athletes of the year honors.

Birch, a native of York, England, was a NFHCA First-Team All-American and was the seventh Hawkeye in program history to be named a three-time All-American.

Birch, a team captain, started all 22 games last season. She finished with a team-high seven goals for 24 points. She finished with a career-high 10 assists.

Birch was the NFHCA West Region Player of the Year, a first-team NFHCA All-West Regional honoree, and a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection. She was four-time All-Big Ten honoree, and a three-time team most valuable player.

Iowa won the Big Ten tournament and the conference's regular-season title.

Garza was named the national player of the year by six media outlets, and was a consensus first-team All-American. He was also named the Pete Newell Big Man Of The Year, the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year and was the Big Ten's player of the year.

Garza averaged 26.2 points in Big Ten play. He scored 740 points, a new single-season program record.

Garza scored 20 or more points in 16 consecutive Big Ten games to close the season. He ranked second nationally with 25 games of 20 points or more. He averaged 26.7 points and 11.1 rebounds in games against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.

Iowa went 20-11 overall, 11-9 in the Big Ten.