With the 2017-18 athletic year concluded, Eastern New Mexico University Athletic Director Dr. Greg Waggoner announced that Kamal Cass, Erika Burke and Danee Bustos have been selected as Greatest Greyhound. The trio’s selection to ENMU’s highest yearly honor capped a season of incredible accomplishments for the department.
Each year, head coaches have the option to nominate a student athlete for the distinction of Greatest Greyhound. The head coaches and athletic administration then vote to determine which athletes are selected as Greatest Greyhound.
“We are fortunate to have so many outstanding student-athletes from our programs, which makes this award that much more prestigious,” said Waggoner. “These selections are outstanding choices and represent all of the characteristics that we strive for in Greyhound Athletics.”
Cass garnered his second straight Greatest Greyhound selection, which marked the fourth straight year the Greyhound football team was represented by the award winner. The tie between Burke and Bustos marked the first time there was a tie for the award since Anna Bellum (volleyball) and Laci Lee (basketball) shared the award in 2004. Bustos was the first female track & field award winner since Nicki Reid was chosen in 2010. Burke was the softball team’s first honoree since 2007, when Laura Thompson was chosen.
Kamal Cass
Cass concluded his career with a 276-yard effort against fourth-ranked Midwestern State after he entered the game in need of 178 yards to break the ENMU career rushing record. Cass’ efforts enabled ENMU to lead the nation in rushing for the 2017 season. Over the last two seasons, he garnered five All-America honors and a pair of selections as Lone Star Conference Offensive Back of the Year.
The senior led the league in rushing in each of the last three seasons and claimed the 2017 LSC rushing crown by a 509-yard margin. Cass reached the century mark seven times as a senior to bring his career total to 20 games. He entered the season finale needing 178 yards against fourth-ranked Midwestern State to become ENMU’s all-time leader in rushing yards and registered a career-best 276-yard performance to go along with three touchdowns. The league’s preseason Co-Offensive Player of the Year concludes his Greyhound career with 4,301 rushing yards, 50 touchdowns (rushing), 15 receptions for 287 yards and three scores.
He also has been a key special-teams player with 33 kick returns and 10 punt returns. Cass accumulated 5,322 all-purpose yards over 44 games.
Danee Bustos
Bustos is the first ENMU athlete to earn both Greatest Greyhound and Academic Greyhound. She was a crucial part of the women’s outdoor 4x100m relay team which garnered First Team All-America status after placing eighth in National Championships. The relay team broke the school record twice over the three day span. On Thursday, the women ran a time of 45.78, breaking their previous record of 45.93 set earlier this season to get into finals as the No. 8 seed. After a day’s rest, they came back on Saturday and shaved .04 second off their time to set the record at 45.74. The group was the first women’s relay team in program history to earn All-American status. Bustos also placed 18th in the 200m at the championships.
She also garnered Second Team All-America status in the 200m dash during the indoor segment of the season and was selected Google Cloud Academic All-District.
Erikka Burke
Burke garnered First Team All-LSC laurels after making the second team last season. The last time ENMU had a first-team selection was 2009, when Kristen Cruickshank and Laura Thompson were First Team All-LSC South. McElroy’s third-team selection marked the first time an ENMU freshman earned All-LSC status since the 2014 season.
Burke finished a historic career for the Hounds, setting career records for homeruns, walks, intentional walks and hit by pitch. She finished in the Lone Star Conference top-ten for the season in batting average (8th, .406), slugging percentage (5th, .819), on-base-percentage (2nd, .534), homeruns (T-7th, 15), and hit by pitch (4th, 18).
The senior first baseman concluded her career on numerous career and single-season lists for ENMU. Career-wise Burke’s name appears in 10 ENMU top-10 lists. Her name appears 21 times in the single-season lists, including the program’s top spot for homeruns (2018), slugging (2018), intentional walks (T-2018) and hit by pitch (2018). Burke had a 3-for-4 performance in a win at Rogers State with a double, homer and five RBIs.
