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Top-10 Athletes 1. Casey Matthews Recovering from consecutive shoulder injuries, Matthews returned to competition only to win on the biggest stage. The junior won the national title in the 3-meter springboard at the NCAA Championships. 2. Kawann Short Short helped lead the Boilermakers to backto-back bowl appearances and took home individual honors, as a first-team All-Big Ten member and an All-American. The defensive tackle was picked in the second round of the NFL Draft by Carolina. 3. Paula Reto The senior golfer earned medalist honors at the NCAA West Regional and was the Big Ten individual champion. Her three-round total of 206 at the West Regional of the NCAA tourney set a school record, beating out her previous mark of a season ago. She's competing now at the NCAAs. 4. Ariel Turner Turner, a senior outside hitter, earned unanimous All-Big Ten honors in helping the Boilermakers to the Sweet 16 this season. There, she was named to the West Lafayette Regional AllTournament team. 5. Sam Ostarello Ostarello is one of the greatest rebounders in Purdue history, setting a single-season mark in 2012-13 and becoming the school's secondbest all-time. A second-team All-Big Ten member, she averaged 10 rebounds per game as a senior, totaling 341; and she finished her career with 901 boards. 6. Dani Bunch The junior won the Big Ten shot put title, throwing 17.13 meters for a school and conference championship record. She also finished fourth in the hammer throw outdoors, and second in the shot put and weight throw at the Big Tens during the indoor season. 7. Robert Marve Marve provided one of the more memorable three-game stretches of any Boilermaker in recent history, rallying Purdue to a bowl game and doing so on an injured knee. 8. Geoff Davis The senior took the silver medal at the Big Ten outdoor championships in the high jump, leaping 7-feet, 3-inches. He, like Bunch, will compete at the NCAA East Regional this weekend. Davis also finished fifth in the indoor NCAA Championship, jumping a school-record 7-5. 9. A.J. Hammons Hammons, Purdue's rookie center, was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team, after finishing the conference season with averages of 11.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. 10. Terone Johnson Johnson, Purdue's leading scorer as a junior, was voted third-team All-Big Team. He tied for ninth in the league in scoring average (14.2) in conference action. — Gold and Black staff playing for Drey and this year we're playing for Coach Kix." An avid runner and former lacrosse player and coach, Kix took cancer as her latest challenge. And as it went on, she earned small victories. At one point fearing that doctors would have to remove her entire stomach, Kix was able to keep all but a third. And after staying in New York for about a month, she's now back on campus, having resumed her role as the director of ops, but also as an inspiration to all. Tom Campbell — Kyle Charters Diver Casey Matthews overcame two blown No. 6. Incredible Comeback After shoulder injuries that limited her ability to compete for nearly two consecutive seasons, few might have thought Casey Matthews would be able to come back. Even fewer would have predicted she'd reach heights she hadn't seen previously. But Matthews, a junior diver, proved everyone wrong. Coming back in early December, following the second of the two injuries that kept her from competing in the U.S. Olympic Diving Trails in the summer, Mat- shoulders to win an NCAA title. thews completed the season of her life. The Getzville, N.Y., native won the national championship in the 3-meter springboard, edging out Arizona State's Hailey Casper in the final round. "I had no idea going into that last dive where I was in the standings," said Matthews, who had trailed Casper. "… When that (final) score flashed on the board, I couldn't have been more shocked." It capped quite the return. A former highly regarded underclassmen at Purdue, who arrived in West Lafayette in the same class as Olympic champion Da- GoldanDBlack express • volume 23, express 30 • 4