Bethel Ath­letic De­part­ment Hosts Helm Awards

MISHAWAKA—With so much un­cer­tainty en­ter­ing the 2020-21 aca­d­e­mic and ath­letic year due to COVID-19, the Bethel Ath­letic De­part­ment made it a goal to try and make it through the sea­son. Not only did the Ath­letic De­part­ment make it through their 2020-21 sea­sons, but they did it in style. They claimed four run­ner-up fin­ishes in the NC­CAA Na­tional Cham­pi­onships for men’s and wom­en’s cross coun­try, wom­en’s golf and men’s soc­cer. They also brought home three na­tional cham­pi­onships: two in­di­vid­ual and one team. The wom­en’s vol­ley­ball team brought home the NC­CAA Na­tional Ti­tle, while Emma Mott and Thomas Jack­son both brought home in­di­vid­ual ti­tles for Bethel. So, af­ter so many tri­als and tribu­la­tions for Bethel Uni­ver­sity, Ath­letic Di­rec­tor Tony Na­tali wanted to put on an awards cer­e­mony to show the de­part­men­t’s ap­pre­ci­a­tion for their ath­letes. 

“I told our staff that I had wanted to cel­e­brate our ath­letes,” Na­tali said. “We wanted to cel­e­brate hav­ing all of our ath­letes in one place be­cause we haven’t been able to do that this year. We also wanted to cel­e­brate mak­ing it through this pe­riod of COVID, we wanted to cel­e­brate the suc­cesses that we’ve had this sea­son, and we wanted to cel­e­brate the iden­tity that we’ve grown in the ath­letic de­part­ment, and that’s a Christ-cen­tered de­part­ment.” 

Not only did they want to honor the ath­letic ac­com­plish­ments of their ath­letes, but their aca­d­e­mic ones as well. They handed out two team scholar awards, one to the best wom­en’s team and one to the best men’s team. The best men’s team GPA went to the men’s golf team who had a 3.73 GPA as a team, and the best wom­en’s team GPA went to the wom­en’s ten­nis team who had a 3.53 GPA as a team. Along with team scholar awards, they also handed out awards to the best per­form­ing in­di­vid­u­als on each team to form an all-aca­d­e­mic team.  

Pi­lots All-Aca­d­e­mic Team  

Base­ball: Colby Siden­ben­der 

Men’s Bas­ket­ball: Filip Segota 

Wom­en’s Bas­ket­ball: Mag­gie De­boy and Mad­die Hess 

Men’s Bowl­ing: Reed El­lis 

Wom­en’s Bowl­ing: Ash­leigh Neier 

Com­pet­i­tive Cheer: Faith Livensparger 

Men’s Cross Coun­try: Josiah Rail­ton 

Wom­en’s Cross Coun­try: Emma Mott 

Es­ports: Corey Bridge­man and Bri­anna Dens­more 

Men’s Golf: Lo­gan Mar­shall 

Wom­en’s Golf: Brooke Thomas 

Men’s Soc­cer: Matheus San­ti­ago 

Wom­en’s Soc­cer: Han­nah Mi­hut 

Soft­ball: Syd­ney An­der­son 

Men’s Swim­ming: Jakob Forsythe 

Wom­en’s Swim­ming: Emma Mc­Clel­land 

Men’s Ten­nis: Evan Roth 

Wom­en’s Ten­nis: Emili Runes­tad 

Men’s Track & Field: Ja­cob Ropp 

Wom­en’s Track & Field: Cai­lyn Pen­te­cost 

Wom­en’s Vol­ley­ball: Megan Hosin­ski 

Wom­en’s Lacrosse: Marissa Berg 

Along with an­nounc­ing the aca­d­e­mic awards for the ath­letes, they also an­nounced the var­i­ous na­tional awards that the ath­letes ac­cu­mu­lated over the course of the sea­son. 

NAIA All-Amer­i­cans 

Men’s Bas­ket­ball: Tre­Vion Crews 

Men’s In­door Track & Field: Thomas Jack­son 

Men’s Swim­ming: Lo­gan Berndt, Caleb Berrong, Dy­lan De­long, Ean Er­ling 

Wom­en’s In­door Track & Field: Emma Mott, Megan Cooper, Kayla Kunkel, Ha­ley Wim­mer 

Wom­en’s Swim­ming: Abi­gail Barnes, Sarah Hyska, Vivi­enne Kun­kler, Emma Mc­Clel­land, Paula Ronda Bou, Elis­a­beth Wolfe 

NC­CAA All-Amer­i­cans 

Men’s Bas­ket­ball: Tre­Vion Crews 

Men’s Cross Coun­try: Trevor Miller, Ja­cob Ropp, Jor­dan Shoe­maker 

Wom­en’s Cross Coun­try: Emma Mott, Megan Cooper 

Wom­en’s Golf: Maria Pardo Vic­tori, Jes­sica Shurety, Brooke Thomas 

NC­CAA Play­ers/​Coaches of the Year 

Emma Mott: NC­CAA Wom­en’s Cross Coun­try Ray Bul­lock Award 

Is­abelle North: NC­CAA Wom­en’s Vol­ley­ball Tour­na­ment Most Out­stand­ing Player 

Tre­Vion Crews: NC­CAA Men’s Bas­ket­ball Na­tional and North Cen­tral Re­gion Player of the Year 

Brooke Thomas: NC­CAA Wom­en’s Golf North Cen­tral Re­gion Player of the Year 

Katie Weiss: NC­CAA Wom­en’s Vol­ley­ball Na­tional Coach of the Year 

Ge­an­dra Almeida: NC­CAA Wom­en’s Golf North Cen­tral Re­gion Coach of the Year 

Steve Drabyn: NC­CAA Men’s Bas­ket­ball North Cen­tral Re­gion Coach of the Year 

UST­FC­C­CAA Play­ers of the Year 

Emma Mott: UST­FC­C­CAA Great Lakes Re­gion Wom­en’s In­door Track Ath­lete of the Year 

Thomas Jack­son: UST­FC­C­CAA Great Lakes Re­gion Men’s In­door Field Ath­lete of the Year 

Af­ter they an­nounced the aca­d­e­mic and ath­letic awards for the ath­letes they went into the su­perla­tive awards for the ath­letes. Those awards in­cluded Stu­dent Worker of the Year, the Ron Paulsen Memo­r­ial Grant re­cip­i­ents, the Dave Slater Spirit Award, Re­serves Player of the Year, Play of the Year, Break­through Ath­lete of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Player of the Year.  

Stu­dent Worker of the Year 

Nom­i­nees: Nick Sherk – Ath­letic De­part­ment In­tern, Jes­sica Shurety – Fa­cil­i­ties and Game staff and Ben Wilt - Ath­letic De­part­ment In­tern 

Win­ner: Ben Wilt – Ath­letic De­part­ment In­tern 

Ron Paulsen Memo­r­ial Grant Re­cip­i­ents 

Men’s Nom­i­nees: Willian dos San­tos – Men's Soc­cer, Trevor Miller – Men's Cross Coun­try, and Evan Roth – Men's Ten­nis 

Win­ner: Willian dos San­tos – Men's Soc­cer 

Wom­en’s Nom­i­nees: Emma Mott – Wom­en's Cross Coun­try, Grace Ha­ley – Wom­en's Ten­nis, Kelsey Brick­ner – Wom­en's Bas­ket­ball, and Mat­tie Reese – Soft­ball 

Win­ner: Emma Mott – Wom­en's Cross Coun­try 

Dave Slater Uni­ver­sity Spirit Award 

Men’s Nom­i­nees: Luke Hil­le­gonds – Men's Golf, An­drew Mi­randa – Base­ball, and Se­bas­t­ian Alonso – Men's Track & Field 

Win­ner: Se­bas­t­ian Alonso – Men's Track & Field 

Wom­en’s Nom­i­nees: Gabrielle Rein­hoehl – Com­pet­i­tive Cheer, Paige Sex­tella – Wom­en's Bowl­ing and Wom­en’s Golf, and Grace Beck - Wom­en's Soc­cer 

Win­ner: Grace Beck – Wom­en's Soc­cer 

Re­serves Player of the Year 

Men’s Nom­i­nees: Seth Shetler – Men's Bas­ket­ball and Ja­cob Imhoff – Men's Soc­cer 

Win­ner: Ja­cob Imhoff – Men's Soc­cer 

Wom­en’s Nom­i­nees: Paige Sex­tella – Wom­en's Golf, Ha­ley Berger – Wom­en's Vol­ley­ball, Halle Shipp – Wom­en's Bas­ket­ball, and Shae­lyn Mul­der – Soft­ball 

Win­ner: Halle Shipp – Wom­en's Bas­ket­ball 

Play of the Year 

Men’s Nom­i­nees: Jared De­Hart – Men's Bas­ket­ball and Eli Mac­Don­ald – Base­ball 

Win­ner: Jared De­Hart – Men's Bas­ket­ball 

Wom­en’s Nom­i­nees: Is­abelle North – Vol­ley­ball, Emma Mott – Wom­en's Cross Coun­try, and Nyla Asad – Wom­en's Bas­ket­ball 

Win­ner: Is­abelle North – Vol­ley­ball  

Break­through Ath­lete of the Year 

Men’s Nom­i­nees: Nathan Aerts – Men's Bas­ket­ball, Myles Moser – Men's Bowl­ing, and El­isha Flem­ing – Men's Track & Field 

Win­ner: Nathan Aerts – Men's Bas­ket­ball 

Wom­en’s Nom­i­nees: Megan Cooper – Wom­en's Cross Coun­try, Ha­ley Ragonesi – Soft­ball, and Sarah Konecny – Wom­en's Lacrosse 

Win­ner: Megan Cooper – Wom­en's Cross Coun­try 

Rookie of the Year 

Men’s Nom­i­nees: Ed­ward Mitchell – Rocket League, Caleb Berrong – Men's Swim­ming & Div­ing, and Kur­tis Davis – Men's Ten­nis 

Win­ner: Caleb Berrong – Men's Swim­ming & Div­ing 

Wom­en’s Nom­i­nees: Maddy Payne – Wom­en's Vol­ley­ball, Paula Ronda Bou – Wom­en's Swim­ming & Div­ing, and Maria Pardo Vic­tori – Wom­en's Golf 

Win­ner: Maddy Payne – Wom­en's Vol­ley­ball 

Player of the Year 

Men’s Nom­i­nees: Tre­Vion Crews – Men's Bas­ket­ball, Thomas Jack­son – Men's Track & Field, and Jose Bar­quin – Men's Soc­cer 

Win­ner: Thomas Jack­son – Men's Track & Field 

Wom­en’s Nom­i­nees: Emma Mott – Wom­en's Cross Coun­try and Wom­en’s Track & Field, Is­abelle North – Wom­en's Vol­ley­ball, and Grace Ha­ley – Wom­en's Ten­nis 

Win­ner: Emma Mott – Wom­en's Cross Coun­try and Wom­en’s Track & Field 

“I think we’ve learned some things since it’s the first time we’ve held some­thing like this,” Na­tali said. “Next year we hope to have a din­ner to go with the cer­e­mony. We also want to make this an an­nual event. We wanted to make it hap­pen last year, but we could­n’t. This is some­thing that we want to cel­e­brate yearly. We want to cel­e­brate not only the achieve­ments that our ath­letic teams ac­com­plish, but also cel­e­brate Christ and Him be­ing at the cen­ter of all that we do.” 

For more in­for­ma­tion on Bethel Uni­ver­sity ath­let­ics visit www.bupi­lots.com.