April 28, 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina's Ivory Latta and Darian Durant have been honored by the Raleigh Sports Club, which named Latta its Female Athlete of the Year and Durant its Football Player of the Year for 2004-05. The awards were selected by a vote of the club's 300 members.

Latta, a member of the Tar Heel women's basketball team that reached the NCAA Elite Eight last season, was presented with her trophy at the group's 42nd-annual banquet and awards presentation Thursday evening. Durant was unable to attend because he is in training camp with the Baltimore Ravens, but Corey Holliday, UNC's Assistant Athletic Director for Football Student-Athlete Development, accepted the award on Durant's behalf.

Latta, a sophomore point guard, earned third-team All-America honors in 2005 as she led UNC in scoring with 17.4 points per game and in assists with 4.3 per game. She was named All-ACC and ACC Tournament MVP as the Tar Heels claimed the conference title. Latta became just the second sophomore in school history to reach the 1,000-career-points mark and she tied the school record for single-season free throw percentage, shooting 86.3.

Durant finished his career in 2004 as the Atlantic Coast Conference's seventh all-time leading passer with 8,755 yards. He holds 51 UNC records, including career total offense, completions, passing yards and touchdown passes. As a senior, he was named the team's offensive MVP for the second year in a row after passing for 2,238 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushing for another 188 yards and one touchdown.