The UIS 2025 ‘Best of” Contest has officially ended, and the winners are in! We will release the winners, as well as the runners up, over the course of the next week.

The second round of winners includes:

Student that Best Represents UIS Spirit: Karizma Alvarado!

Alvarado is a business major here at UIS. She mentors for the Capital Honors Program, is a member of the Gamma Phi Omega Sorority, and works at the UIS Women’s Center. Morgan Keith, a Public History MA student, took second place. Emma Mott, an MBA student in Human Resources Management, placed third.

Best Sports Team: Women’s Soccer!

The Prairie Stars community voted Women’s Soccer as the best UIS sports team. Women’s Volleyball and Men’s Soccer came in second and third place.

Best Men’s Athlete: Anton Aduwa-Emovon!

Aduwa-Emovon is a midfielder on the UIS Men’s Soccer team. He is a psychology major and senior at UIS. The runners up were Max Kunnert, a guard on the UIS Men’s Basketball team in second place and Tom Bumann from the UIS Men’s Golf team in third.

Best Women’s Athlete: Makenna Cox!

Makenna Cox is an outside hitter for the UIS Women’s Volleyball team. Anna Schurz, a midfielder for the UIS Women’s Soccer team placed second and Maddie Miller, from UIS Women’s Track and Field placed third.

Cox told The Observer that she was not aware of her nomination to this category until she was informed by a teammate. She stressed the importance of her fellow players to her victory, both in this contest and on the court, “I would not be able to do anything without them. They push me to be a better person and player every day.”

“We have such great support from the staff too!” Cox added.

Cox again emphasized the importance of the team when she spoke on how she felt about winning Best Women’s Athlete, “I feel grateful to win in this category. It brings a lot of attention to the volleyball program and what we can do as a team.”

The next round of winners will be announced Monday, April 28!