It was a night of celebration and recognition for top student-athletes at Wayne State College during the Monday, May 5 Ameritas Awards Banquet.
From the Frey Conference Suite in the Kanter Student Center, six major awards were presented along with recognition of All-American, All-NSIC honors to go with academic awards and Most Valuable Player awards for sports that have completed their seasons.
For a second straight season, senior volleyball standout Taya Beller was named Female Athlete of the Year while All-NSIC and sophomore All-Region defensive end Carter Sitzman from football was voted Male Athlete of the Year. Freshmen athletes of the year were handed out to softball player Kennadi Borngrebe and track and field standout Emmanuel Badejo. The Bob Cunningham Scholar Athletes of the Year were presented to Beller and junior men's cross country/track and field athlete Quentin Dreyer.
Beller, a 6-2 senior middle hitter from Lindsay (Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family HS) was voted Female Athlete of the Year for a second straight season. She was named AVCA and D2CCA All-American for a third straight season and voted All-NSIC First Team for a fourth straight year. Beller ranked second in the NSIC in kills per set (3.51), points per set (4.52) and blocks per set (1.29) and was fourth in the league in hitting percentage (.349). She ended her Wildcat career ranked fourth in all-time kills at 1,545 and was second in hitting percentage (.369).
Sitzman, a 6-4, 260 pound sophomore defensive end from Lincoln (Lincoln Christian HS), was selected as Male Athlete of the Year after earning All-NSIC First Team and All-Super Region 4 Second Team accolades. He led the NSIC in sacks (7.0) and tackles for loss (15.5) this season and was third overall in total tackles with 54. Sitzman anchored a Wildcat defense that recorded two shutouts for the first time since the 2006 season.
Borngrebe, a redshirt freshman pitcher from Elkhorn South HS, was named NSIC Pitcher of the Week three times this season and led the Wildcat pitching staff with a 13-10 record and a 2.67 ERA. She ranked fourth in the NSIC in strikeouts with 158 in just 136.1 innings pitched and had 11 complete games with five shutouts. At the plate, Borngrebe had a .260 batting average and had two homers, 11 doubles and 22 RBI and was fourth on the team with 10 multi-hit games. She helped Wildcat softball to a 23-win improvement from last season along with the team's first 30-win season since 2016 and first NSIC Tournament win since 2015.
Badejo, a freshman sprinter from Ijebu Ode, Nigeria, earned All-NSIC honors during the indoor season placing third in the 400-meter dash while also setting two new school records in the 400-meter dash (47.72) and the 4 x 400-meter relay team. In the outdoor season, Badejo has already posted three new school records in the 200 and 400-meter dashes and the 4 x 100-meter relay team. He set a new school record of 46.39 seconds in the 400-meter dash at Saturday's USD TuneUp Meet and is ranked with the 11th-fastest time in NCAA Division II.
Beller also was named the Bob Cunningham Female Scholar Athlete of the Year after being named College Sports Communicators Academic All-American for a third straight season. She is the first-ever female athlete at WSC to earn three Academic All-American awards. This season, Beller earned her master's degree in business management while maintaining a 3.74 grade point average.
Dreyer was voted Bob Cunningham Male Scholar Athlete of the Year with a 4.00 grade point average majoring in skilled and technical science education. He is a two-time NSIC Elite 18 Award winner recognized as the top scholar athlete at an NSIC Championship event, earning the honor in indoor track and field this season and last year in cross country. On the track, Dreyer medaled in two events at the NSIC Indoor Championships placing sixth in the 1,000-meter run at 2:32.76 and was seventh in the one-mile run in a time of 4:16.90.
