CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — The University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) announced Monday its 2023-24 Newcomer of the Year honorees. Big Ten Champions Marcus Domask (basketball) and Darja Sopova (track & field) have been named winners of the award, now in its second season year, presented to the top male and female non-freshmen competing in their first season for the Fighting Illini. The recipients were selected by vote of Illinois head coaches and DIA executive staff.
Domask was a key addition to the Illinois men's basketball program in 2023-24, joining the Illini for his final season after a standout, four-year run at Southern Illinois. He was recognized as the Big Ten Newcomer of the Year (AP) and a first team All-Big Ten (coaches/AP) selection after averaging 15.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.9 assists to help lead the Illini to 29 victories – third-most in team history – a Big Ten Tournament Championship, and the program's first NCAA Elite Eight appearance in 19 seasons. He also earned the program's first first-team Academic All-America selection since 1975.
The Waupun, Wisconsin, native scored in double figures in 29 games with 11 20-point contests and three 30-point efforts including a career-high 33 in a December win over No. 11 FAU at Madison Square Garden. He posted 26 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in Illinois' Big Ten Tournament Championship victory over Wisconsin, then recorded the 10th triple-double in NCAA history, and the first by an Illini in the NCAA Tournament, with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists to jump start the team's Elite Eight run in a win over Morehead State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Domask is the second straight Illini men's basketball standout to earn Newcomer of the Year honors after teammate Terrence Shannon Jr. was recognized with the inaugural award in 2023.
Sopova was an important piece to bringing home the women's Big Ten Indoor title, the program's first in 11 years. She was the team's second leading scorer with 15 points after earning gold in the triple jump (13.39m (43-11 1/4)) and taking fourth in the long jump (6.12m (20-1)). A few weeks later she became an All-American triple jumper at the NCAA Indoor Championships posting a school record mark of 13.58m (44-6 3/4) to earn sixth place.
She capped a stellar first year in the Orange and Blue with a runner-up finish in the triple jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships to earn first team All-America honors. On her final attempt, she surpassed 14 meters for the first time in her career, laying down a new school record (14.01m (45-11 3/4)) to become the women's program's second-ever outdoor All-American triple jumper. A month prior, she took home triple jump bronze at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships (13.36m (43-10)) and placed eighth in the long jump (6.09m (19-11 3/4)).
Sopova is the first Illini women's track & field athlete to earn Newcomer of the Year. Women's basketball's Makira Cook was selected as the recipient in 2023.
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