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BAY CITY, Mich. – The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) announced the recipients of the Spring 2021 GLIAC Commissioner’s Awards on Wednesday (July 21). The awards are presented after the Fall, Winter, and Spring athletic seasons to six female and six male student-athletes that excel both in the classroom and on the fields of play. All grade-point averages are based on a 4.0 scale.
The six female student-athletes recipients are: Paige Kortz (FSU), Brooke Henning (GVSU), Hannah Roeske (GVSU), Lauren Huebner (SVSU), Sydni Harding (NU), Ryann Deuel (DU)
The six male honorees are: Alex Hill (AU), Mathis Guerre (FSU), Thomas Hursey (FSU), Sam Black (SVSU), Grant Haefner (WSU), Austin Emanuel (UWP)
Ferris State University's Paige Kortz hit a squad-best .384 overall with a team-high 53 hits in 42 games played for the Bulldogs, who finished the year with 15 victories on the softball diamond. She also produced 22 RBI's and scored 22 times while drawing 12 walks. Overall, Kortz notched six doubles with a triple and four homers in addition leading the team with 20 stolen bases. Additionally, she had 11 extra-base hits. In the field, Kortz was the Bulldogs' everyday centerfielder and posted a .974 fielding percentage with 70 put-outs and four assists on the year. Kortz was named to the All-GLIAC First Team for the Bulldogs this year and she is a three-year letterwinner and starter in the FSU program. She was also chosen to this year's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II All-Midwest Region squad and earned 2021 CoSIDA Academic All-District IV First Team laurels.
Outfielder Brooke Henning has earned back-to-back GLIAC Commissioner’s Award honors. Henning appeared in 52 games, making 51 starts for the Lakers in 2021. The junior helped lead the Lakers to a GLIAC regular season and tournament championship, while also capturing the NCAA Midwest Regional crown and a berth in the College World Series. Henning hit .273 with 39 hits, seven doubles, one triple, one home run, while driving in 23 RBI’s and scoring 26 runs. A biomedical science major, Henning carries a 4.0 cumulative GPA and has been named to three consecutive GLIAC All-Academic Excellence teams.
Roeske helped lead the Laker women to a NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field National Championship. The sophomore earned USTFCCCA first team All-American honors in the 3000m (Indoor), distance medley relay (Indoor), 5000m (Outdoor), and the steeplechase (Outdoor). A physical education major, Roeske holds a cumulative GPA of 3.97 and was named to the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence team. Roeske finished second in the 3000m steeplechase after posting a personal-best time of 10:16.88 at the NCAA Outdoor National Championship. Additionally, Roeske clocked a personal-best time of 9:23.07 in the 3000m run at the NCAA Indoor National Championship.
Lauren Huebner secured three NCAA DII All-American awards at the Outdoor National Championships for the Cardinals. She was a Member of the National Champion SVSU 4x400 relay team. Huebner’s senior year also included GLIAC Champion in the 4x100 relay, 400-meter hurdles, 4x400 relay. Was third in the javelin throw and fourth in the long jump at the GLIAC Championships. Won the heptathlon at the Tiffin Invite with 5,171 points, hitting the provisional NCAA standard. Huebner has five total NCAA All-American honors, including the 2019 Heptathlon National Title.
Sydni Harding earned First Team All-GLIAC honors this season, marking the third time in her career she has been named All-GLIAC. Harding had in her best season as a Timberwolf, with her scoring average of 75.9 being the lowest in school history. She finished in the top third of all seven of the events this season, including winning the NC4K Classic. For the season, Harding ended the year with an individual winning percentage of .847 (436-79). She qualified as an individual for both the NCAA East Regional and the NCAA Championship. Harding is the only player in program history to reach the NCAA Championships twice. She is an Operations & Supply Chain Management major with a 3.675 GPA.
Ryann Deuel has left her mark all over the women's lacrosse program at Davenport. She has been a leader both on and off the field for head coach Rob Harris. She helped lead the team to an 11-3 record and second place in the GLIAC, while also helping the Panthers earn their first-ever national ranking. Deuel was named First Team All-GLIAC and Second Team All-Region in 2021. She is the school's all-time leader in draw controls with 441 and had 88 this season to lead the conference. Among the league's leaders, Deuel was also first in total shots (94), tied for second in goals (46), and fifth in points (53).
Hill with a 3.71 GPA as an Applied Exercise Science major, finished his Eagle career with two more D-II All-American honors at outdoor nationals in 2021. He is a 10-time All-American overall, and was an 11-time GLIAC Field Athlete of the Week, 2017-18 USTFCCCA Men’s Midwest Region Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, two-time GLIAC Outdoor Men’s Field Athlete of the Year and Field Athlete of the Meet, and the 2017 GLIAC Indoor Men’s Field Freshman of the Meet.
Ferris State University's Mathis Guerre, who was chosen as the GLIAC Men's Tennis Player of the Year, led the Bulldogs to both the GLIAC Regular Season and Tournament Championships this season. The Bulldogs, who finished with a 15-1 overall record, claimed their fifth regular-season title in the last six tries and the program's fourth tournament crown in the last five opportunities this year. As the squad's number one player, Guerre posted a combined 21-6 overall singles and doubles record this year, including a 9-4 mark in singles action and a 12-2 doubles ledger. The four-year letterwinner went 6-1 in GLIAC regular-season doubles play and led FSU to the program's 24th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance. He was also tabbed as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Region Most Improved Senior Player for the campaign.
The GLIAC Men's Golf Player of the Year, Thomas Hursey led the Bulldogs to the 2021 GLIAC Championship and an NCAA Tournament berth this season. He placed tied for second overall in the GLIAC's stroke play portion of the championships and then led FSU to wins over Saginaw Valley State in the semifinals and rival Grand Valley State in the finals at the GLIAC Championships. He was the final golfer on the course and produced the deciding result in the win over GVSU. Hursey twice won medalist honors in tournament competition this spring, winning the Bill Blazer Memorial and the Cav Classic in Ohio in back-to-back events. In five tournaments this spring prior to the NCAA Championships, Hursey placed among the top six golfers all six times with four top-three performances, including the two first-place finishes. For his efforts, he was chosen as Ferris State's Dean Davenport "Bulldog of the Year" recipient as the school's top male student-athlete this year.
Sam Black concluded the 2021 athletic calendar for the Cardinals with a historic finish to his outstanding career. Black won the 2021 NCAA DII National title in the outdoor men’s decathlon. After only competing in a handful of events throughout the season, Black was able to close his time as a Cardinal as a champion. He is the SVSU record holder in the decathlon and was a participant in the US Olympic Team trials at earlier this summer. Black is a three-time NCAA All-American and was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team earlier this month.
Grant Haefner was selected to the All-GLIAC First Team and was WSU's top golfer in all three regular-season tournaments. He tied-for-15th at the GLIAC Championships with a 144 (70, 74) … was an individual qualifier for the NCAA Super Regionals. Haefner golfed in five events and finished with an average round of 72.6 over 13 rounds ... had three top-10 results and another top-25 finish. Just recently, he qualified for the U.S. Amateur, which will be played at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. beginning on August 9th.
Haefner has played 93 career rounds in five years with a 74.69 career scoring average. He was selected as a 2019-20 GLIAC Commissioner's Award recipient and jas four times earned All-GLIAC recognition (2nd Team in 2018, Honorable Mention in 2019, and First Team in 2020 and 2021) four times. Haefner is a four-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team selection. He was a Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar in 2018-19 & 2019-20. Haefner participated in the NCAA Super Regionals in 2018 (226), 2019 (236) and 2021 (222). He has had 15 top-10 results in his career. The Management major with a 3.73 GPA has been named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term GPA 3.5+) nine semesters and the Coach's Honor Roll (term GPA 3.0-3.49) once.
- Second Team All-Midwest Region by ABCA/Rawlings
- First Team All-GLIAC
- Broke the single-season Parkside record for highest batting average (.430) and on-base percentage (.532).
- Second best batting average in the GLIAC, best on-base percentage
- Also led the team in at-bats (100), runs (22), hits (43), doubles (10), home runs (3), RBI (17), slugging % (.620), and walks drawn (16).
- Finished his Parkside career with a 1.106 OPS.
- Ended the year on a 13 game hit-streak, and recorded a hit in 28 of the 30 games he played.
- Pitched the second-most innings on the team (36.2), and had the team's lowest ERA (7.61) of any Parkside pitcher with over five innings pitched.
- Struck out a team-high 35 batters
- Recorded the team's two saves on the year