Aurora Spartans’ Julie Galauner: A career full of accolades
AURORA, Ill. — Julie Galauner may be the best basketball player that Aurora University has ever seen. And she’s not done yet.
The 5’9” shooting guard from Genoa, Ill., is in the midst of her fifth and final year at Aurora as she completes her masters in business administration.
Galauner joined the Spartans in 2017 as a freshman where she appeared in 26 games and started 25 of them. She averaged 16.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists a game. She also shot 0.443 percent from the field. The impressive start to her collegiate basketball career earned her recognition as the Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference (NACC) Freshman of the Year and a NACC First Team All-Conference. On top of that, she was named an AU and NACC Scholar-Athlete.
She continued this success throughout the rest of her career, including being named an All-Region Central Second-Team guard and a NACC First-Team guard in her sophomore season.
In the 2019-2020 season, Galauner joined the 1,000 point club as a junior. She was named a D3Hoops.com Third-Team All-Region and a NACC All-Conference athlete.
Even with the shortened 2020-2021 season due to COVID-19, Galauner still lead the NACC with 23 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.
Before Galauner even started her fifth and final season with the Spartans, she received national attention when she was named a member of the 2021-2022 D3Hoops.com preseason All-American Team. This adds to the already long list of accomplishments for the senior guard. She was a 2020-2021 D3Hoops.com All-Region honoree and has been named to the D3Hoops.com All-Region three times, just to name a few of them.
Galauner said being named to the D3Hoops.com All-American team has always been an ambition of hers.
“It was really cool to be recognized. It was one of my goals,” she said.
Galauner has been playing basketball almost her entire life. She started when she was only three years old when her parents enrolled her in the local park district program. She was just the second person in her entire family to play basketball after her grandfather played post in high school.
“He was a big inspiration,” she said. “I got more into it because of him.”
After playing point guard almost her entire life, Galauner transitioned to shooting guard when she started playing for AU.
“It was definitely a transition, but I enjoy it better. I fit that role really well,” she said.
Galauner decided to attend Aurora after touring a lot of different schools. She ultimately chose Aurora because she wanted to be close to home and that it was a smaller school; a place where she wouldn’t be just a number in the classroom.
Her favorite part about being a Spartan is the people. She treasures the friendships that she has made with her teammates and all of the memories they have made together.
The highlight of her career thus far was becoming the all-time leading scorer at AU. Dana Lettow, the previous record-holder messaged Galauner before the game, wishing her luck.
“Getting that message from Dana meant a lot,” Galauner said. “It was a really cool moment for me.”
The only thing left for Galauner to do is to help earn the Spartans their first win in the NCAA tournament. They have made it every year that Galauner has played, however, they always lose in the first round.
“Hopefully this year we can go a little farther,” she said.
The Spartans, 4-7 on the year, face Concordia University Chicago on January 18.
This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.