Kemba Walker, who almost singlehandedly led the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team on a magical ride to the national championship, and track star Shannon Gagne have been selected as the 2011 Athletes of the Year by the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance.Walker, now a member of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, will receive the Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year Award while Gagne, who captured five NCAA individual championships in track and field for the University of New Haven, is the recipient of the Hank O’Donnell Female Athlete of the Year Award. In addition, Masuk High School quarterback Casey Cochran has been named the inaugural recipient of the newly created Hal Levy High School Athlete of the Year Award, named in honor of the late Shore Line Newspapers sports editor and former CSWA president and longtime member.All three award winners will be honored at the 71st annual Gold Key Dinner on April 29 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.Walker put together one of the most remarkable postseason runs in college basketball history as the junior guard led UConn to 11 straight wins. The first five came in the Big East Tournament where the ninth-seeded Huskies, after losing  four of their last five regular-season games, all against conference opponents, became the first school to win five games in five days en route to the title.

Walker, the tourney MVP, set a Big East Tournament record with 130 points in the five games, including 26 against DePaul and 28 versus Georgetown in the first two rounds, and then 24 points, including the game-winning shot as time expired, against top-seed Pittsburgh in the quarterfinals. He followed that up with a 33-point, 12-rebound, five-assist performance in the semis against Syracuse, and then had a game-high 19 points and three steals in the 69-66 championship-game win over Louisville.He was just getting started, however. Walker sparked UConn to six more consecutive wins in the NCAA tournament, culminating with a a 53-41 win over Butler in the finals in which he had a team-high 16 points and nine rebounds as the Kuskies claimed their third national championship.Walker was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four, a week after earning the West Region MOP.  The only Husky to start all 41 games, the Bronx native set a single-season UConn record with 965 points, averaging 23.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists. He was named the Big East Conference Player of the Year, a consensus First-Team All-American, and was a finalist for the College Basketball Player of the Year.He was also the winner of the Bob Cousy Award as the top point guard in the nation. Walker, who turns 22 in May,  entered the NBA Draft in June and was the ninth overall pick in the first round by the Bobcats.