University of Iowa Student-Athlete Academic Services has recognized seniors LeShun Daniels, Jr. and Emma Sougstad as November’s male and female student-athletes of the month.
Voted on by their peers, this honor recognizes student-athletes who have excelled in their sport and in the classroom.
Daniels, a native of Warren, Ohio, helped the 21st-ranked Iowa football team (8-4, 6-3) to a 3-1 record in November, including victories over No. 2 Michigan and 15th-ranked Nebraska. He ran the ball 79 times for 389 yards and four touchdowns during the four-game stretch.
After rushing for 159 yards and two touchdowns in Iowa’s 28-0 shutout victory over Illinois, which included a 50-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, Daniels was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. The weekly conference laurel was the first of Daniels’ career.
A week later, Daniels rushed a career-high 29 times for 158 yards and two touchdowns in Iowa’s rivalry win over Nebraska. It was his sixth career 100-yard performance and fourth career game of 150 rushing yards and at least two touchdowns, making him the only player in the Ferentz era with four such games. The third team All-Big Ten performer totaled 1,013 yards on the ground in the regular season, becoming the first Hawkeye to surpass 1,000 yards rushing in a single season since 2011.
Daniels is a health and human physiology major, and serves as a member of the Multicultural Focus Group Student-Athlete Advisory Board.
Sougstad, a Forest City, Iowa, native, competed in three November meets for the UI swimming and diving team. She led the Hawkeyes to dual victories over South Dakota and Missouri State and helped the Hawkeyes to a fifth-place finish at the Ohio State Invitational, notching five first-place finishes along the way.
A preseason All-American, Sougstad endured a career performance at the Ohio State Invitational, a three-day event that included the likes of top-ranked Stanford, 23rd-ranked Kentucky, and tournament host and 24th-ranked Ohio State.
Competing in eight events, Sougstad swam season bests, posting NCAA ‘B’-cut times in all four individual events (200 IM, 100 fly, 100 breast, 200 breast). She was Iowa’s top finisher in all four events.
Sougstad swam to a school record in the prelims of the 100 fly (53.74). She went on to break that record with a fourth-place finish in the ‘A’ final, touching in a time of 53.30. Sougstad also swam the second leg of the fastest 200-medley relay in program history (1:39.15) — she now has nine school records to her name. Sougstad was also a member of Iowa’s 400-medley relay team that posted the second-fastest time in school history (3:37.91).
Sougstad is double majoring in elementary education and psychology.
News courtesy of Iowa Athletics.