On Thursday, April 18, a celebration of excellence among Park University Student-Athletes served as a way to commemorate and acknowledge all the hard work put in throughout the year. This celebration of excellence is called the Pirates Choice Awards.
The recipients of these awards were voted on by the Park University community, and the ballot was also open to the public as well.
To kick off the awards ceremony, the Athletic Department decided to do something different. For the first time in the awards’ history, the highlighted athletes who were injured their previous year and had a comeback to their respective sport. The athletes recognized were Peyton Ayers, Stevie Oitker, Aiden Joseph, and Guillermo Cervantes. This section of the ceremony had no winner but served to recognize and celebrate these athletes.
Top player of the year, a popular award within the athletics community, went to Wayde Roman (men’s soccer). Female and male individual performances went to Micaela Suhi (women’s golf) and AJ Watson (men’s basketball).
The next award went to Park athletes who were considered newcomers this year, whether that be a freshman or a transfer student. Female and male newcomers of the year went to Emma Perry (women’s basketball) and Lukas Mehl (men’s cross country and track & field).
Candidates for Female Athlete of the Year included Arianna Marino, Halle Magee, Patrycia Kozak, and Shelby Birmingham. The winner of this award was given to Halle Magee (softball).
Candidates for the Male Athlete of the Year included Wayde Roman, Joao Friedrich, Alexander Caines, Zachery Fritz, and AJ Watson. The winner of male athlete of the year was given to Joao Friedrich (men’s volleyball).
Women’s volleyball won the top team performance award.
Sportsmanship is a necessity in sports, so the athletic department includes awards for those who show great character. Seth Snowden from Esports was the individual recipient. The team Champions of Character award went to Park men’s soccer.
Numerous individuals earned recognition for awards tailored to Park’s ethics and standards.
The Donald J. Breckon Award is given to someone who gives support and is involved within the department, administration, coaches, players, or staff. This person must also demonstrate a passion for student-athletes. Kevin Vicker, Senior Director of International Education, exemplifies all those qualities.
The Ed Nelson is another award that is given as a thanks from the student-athletes for someone who shows support and commitment to them. Nick Rich from Campus Security was the recipient.
The Hal Henderson Award is all about leadership both on and off the field. Alex Rodriquez, baseball, was the recipient.
Debora Bernardi, women’s volleyball, won the Wendy Romero Award which goes to someone who models the core values of the university, contributes significantly to their teams, and performs well within the classroom.
The last award was a sweet moment between a coach and player. Lindsey Derry, Park University softball coach, presented the Old Kate Award to a player on her team, Kal Day, a senior on the softball team who had an outstanding work ethic on and off the field, within the weight room, and around campus.
The Pirates Choice Awards are meant to highlight athletes who had an exceptional year or possibly years. However, all Park athletes should be celebrating, knowing that their teammates could not have been uplifted or in this position without their help and constant support.
It’s a great day to be a pirate.
The Pirates Choice Awards live stream can be found on the Heart of America Conference webpage.
We can use this on the online version so we can link to the stream.
