SAN ANTONIO (May 1, 2018) – Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) celebrated its 2018-2019 season with the Eighth Annual Big Blue All-Sports Athletic Banquet on Wednesday, April 24 in the university's Mabee Gymnasium. Close to 250 athletes from OLLU's 13 teams were honored for their accomplishments throughout the 2018-2019 season.
The evening began with a welcome from Assistant Athletic Director Stephen Sherman. He introduced Father Kevin Fausz, CM, VU, provided the invocation and blessing. The Voice of the Saints Rudy Rubio came up to introduce the season highlight video produced by Sports Information Assistant Sera Quiroga, and those in attendance enjoyed a dinner catered by A Gala Event. Watch 2018-2019 Season Highlights Video here.
After the dinner, Rubio gave a reflection of the season and then he announced the awards to the teams.
Women's team and individual awards in alphabetical order
BASKETBALL, 10th year: 28-7/16-2; NAIA National Tournament Semifinalists; RRAC Tournament Champions; RRAC Regular Season Champions; D. King: NAIA All-American Third Team, All-Conference First Team; C. Minner: RRAC Coach of the Year; P. Okpe: All-Conference Second Team, All-Tournament Team; K. Saldana: NAIA All-American Honorable Mention, All-Tournament Team, All-Conference First Team; Z. Shatri: Champions of Character; R. Sheffield: All-Conference First Team, RRAC Defensive Player of the Year; D. White: All-Conference Honorable Mention; L. Wilson: NAIA All-American Honorable Mention, All-Tournament Team, All-Conference First Team
CROSS-COUNTRY, 10th year: RRAC Runners-Up; NAIA Scholar Team; A. Gandara: NAIA National Championship Participant, All-Conference, USTFCCCA All-Academic; A. Trejo: NAIA National Championship Participant, RRAC Individual Champion, All-Conference, USTFCCCA All-Academic
SOCCER, 11th year: 12-5-1/8-2-1; Conference Tournament Semifinalists; NAIA Scholar Team; D. Brinkley: NAIA All-American Honorable Mention; All-Tournament Team, All-Conference First Team, RRAC Offensive Player of the Year, RRAC Newcomer of the Year; L. Briseno: All-Tournament Team, Champions of Character; B. Cousins: Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athlete, All-Conference Second Team, NSCAA All-Academic; M. Gilbert: All-Conference Second Team; B. Polansky: All-Conference Honorable Mention; M. Tembo: Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athlete, E. Zapata: All-Conference Honorable Mention
*SOFTBALL, 10th year: 24-11/18-6 (Currently 13-19/8-13); (Following are awards from last season. The team does not finish its season until early May.) RRAC Co-Champions; RRAC Tournament Semifinalists; NAIA Scholar Team; NFCA NAIA All-Academic Team; T. Doege: Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete, NFCA NAIA All-Region First Team, All-Conference First Team, All-Tournament; L. Guerra: Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete, Champions of Character; J. Kling: RRAC Coach of the Year; A. Macias: Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete; C. Martinez: RRAC Pitcher of the Year, RRAC Newcomer of the Year, All-Conference First Team, NFCA NAIA All-Region Second Team; K. Tiffany: All-Conference First Team, NFCA NAIA All-Region Second Team; M. Wolken: All-Conference First Team
*TRACK AND FIELD, 5th year: NAIA Scholar Team; Conference Meet Runners-Up; A. Culliver: All-Conference in 200m, 400m, Long Jump, Triple Jump; A. Esparza: All-Conference in High Jump; A. Gandara: All-Conference in 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, USTFCCCA All-Academic; S. Garcia: All-Conference in 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 10000m; D. Joseph: All-Conference in 100m; Q. LeShore: All-Conference in Triple Jump; A. Pineda: All-Conference in 400mH; M. Romain: All-Conference in 110mH; S. Taylor: All-Conference in 5000m, 10000m
VOLLEYBALL, 12th year: 15-14/9-3; Conference Tournament Semifinalists; Regular Season Co-Champions; NAIA Scholar Team; M. Cardenas: Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athlete, All-Conference Second Team; N. Fazio: All-Conference Second Team; B. Hubbard: NAIA All-American Honorable Mention, AVCA All-Region First Team, All-Tournament Team, RRAC Player of the Year, All-Conference First Team; T. Kruta: All-Conference First Team, AVCA All-Region First Team; A. Marquez: All-Conference Honorable Mention; E. Olivarez: All-Conference First Team, RRAC Defensive Specialist of the Year; A. Rivera: All-Conference Second Team; A. Tamez: AVCA All-Region Honorable Mention, All-Conference First Team
Men's team and individual awards in alphabetical order
BASKETBALL, 10th year: 6-20/4-14; L. Jones Jr.: All-Conference Honorable Mention; M. Saladin: All-Conference Second Team; R. Monzon: All-Conference Honorable Mention; E. White: All-Conference Honorable Mention
CROSS-COUNTRY, 10th year: NAIA National Championship Participants; RRAC Champions; N. Aguilar: RRAC Individual Champion, All-Conference; D. Barnett: All-Conference, USTFCCCA All-Academic, Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete; A. Moczygemba: All-Conference, USTFCCCA All-Academic, Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete; I. Ramirez: All-Conference; J. Zarate: All-Conference
SOCCER, 12th year: 7-8-2/4-6-1; NAIA Scholar Team; J. Barraza: All-Conference Honorable Mention; A. Bieker: All-Conference Honorable Mention; J. Cavazos: Co-SIDA Academic All-District Team, Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete, CoSIDA Academic All-American; A. Delgado: Co-SIDA Academic All-District Team, Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete; J. Halpin: Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete; N. Lira: Champions of Character
TENNIS, 11th year: (Following are awards from last season. The team does not finish its season until late April/early May.) NAIA Scholar Team; A. Cantu: All-Conference Second Team; W. Fulgenzi: RRAC All-Tournament First Team; M. Rocha: Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete, RRAC All-Tournament First Team, Big Blue Top Saint; D. Salinas: RRAC All-Tournament First Team
TRACK AND FIELD, 5th year: Conference Meet Runners-Up; N. Aguilar: All-Conference in 800m, 1500m, 3000m; T. Bailey: All-Conference in High Jump; S. Cardenas: All-Conference in 5000m; Moczygemba: All-Conference in 5000m, 10000m; I. Ramirez: All-Conference in 5000m, USTFCCCA All-Academic; M. Segura: All-Conference in 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, USTFCCCA All-Academic; C. Townsend: All-Conference in 110mH; J. Zarate: All-Conference in 800m, 1500m, 3000m
*BASEBALL, 5th year: 25-29/20-15 (Currently 27-21/16-8); (Following are awards from last season. The team will not finish its season until early May.) RRAC Tournament Participants; NAIA Scholar Team; R. Brown: Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete; L. Garza: All-Conference Second Team; J. Hackett: All-Conference First Team; M. Light: Champions of Character; A. Martinez: Gold Glove Team; J. Mitchell: Gold Glove Team
*GOLF, 11th year: (Following are awards from last season. The team will not finish its season until late April/early May.) NAIA National Tournament Participants; RRAC Tournament Champions; A. Baxter: A.I.I. Coach of the Year, RRAC Coach of the Year; L. Flynn: All-Conference; S. Hinojosa: All-Conference; R. Jauregui: Champions of Character, NAIA National Tournament Finalist; S. Landry: RRAC Newcomer of the Year, All-Conference; K. Ybarra: All-Conference
CHAMPIONS OF CHARACTER COMPLETION RATE Top Three: Softball, Golf, Men's Soccer
Top Team GPA Award
After the team awards were presented, Rubio announced that the 2017-2018 Women's Cross-Country had earned the Top Team GPA Award after tallying an overall 3.41 GPA.
Big Blue Top Saints
The final awards presented were for the Top Male Saint and Top Female Saint for 2018-2019. The head coaches of each team nominated one player who excelled in academics, athletics and community service as a member of his or her team in 2018-2019. Presenting the awards were Senior Woman Administrator Adrienne Rodriguez and Assistant Athletic Director Stephen Sherman.
Nominees for men's teams included: Baseball: Ryan Ramsey (SR/Grapevine, Texas); Basketball: Michael Saladin (JR/Beaumont, Texas); Cross-Country: Nathaniel Aguilar (SR/El Paso, Texas); Golf: Steve Landry (SR/Cibolo, Texas); Soccer: Jorge Cavazos (SR/McAllen, Texas); Tennis: Abraham Cantu (SR/Mercedes, Texas); Track and Field: Clayton Townsend (JR/Schertz, Texas).
This year's winner is Jorge Cavazos from soccer. Here are his accomplishments: As a graduate student, he earned a 4.0 GPA. His awards and accomplishments include: four-time Conference Scholar-Athlete, All-Conference First Team; three Defensive Conference Players of the Week awards; four-time Conference Scholar-Athlete, All-Tournament; two-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete, CoSIDA Academic All-District, CoSIDA Academic All-American and he is the Career and Season Leader in Saves as the goalkeeper.
He has regularly volunteered at TOPSoccer as a buddy, at OLLU for the Confetti Run 5k, at the YWCA as a soccer coach, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Caritas, and at a nursing home bringing them food and company in Reynosa, Mexico.
The nominees for the female teams included: Basketball: Destinee King (SR/Antelope, Calif.); Cross-Country: Annie Trejo (JR/Park City, Utah); Softball: Madeline Wolken (SO/Houston, Texas); Soccer: Brooke Cousins (SR/Bulverde, Texas); Track and Field: Miki Romain (JR/Round Rock, Texas) (JR/Austin, Texas); Volleyball: Bailei Hubbard (SO/Helotes, Texas).
This year's winner is Brooke Cousins from soccer. Here are his accomplishments.She guided her team to a NAIA National Championships, First Round appearance and was the RRAC Regular Season Champs in 2015 and 2016; Conference Offensive Player of the Week; 4-time Conference Scholar Athlete; NAIA Scholar Athlete; All-Conference 2nd Team honors.She is a regular volunteer for Haven for Hope, for the San Antonio Food bank, for TopSoccer, for YMCA, for the children's hospital, for Event Services, where she constructed the Parade Float and participated in the Fiesta Parade and for the NCAA Men's D1 Final Four. She has a 3.833 GPA.
Rubio introduced a video that included a variety of photos taken by OLLU photographer Dan Constantin throughout the season.
Watch Video of 2018-2019 Photos here.
The evening concluded after a benediction from OLLU University Ministry Program Coordinator Sister Patti Lohre, IWBS