Don's middle-of-the-year awards

Today is the last day of the fall semester and the end of finals week for our hard-working students, and as they disperse to homes far and near for the holiday break, I thought it would be fitting to give out some informal awards for the first half of the 2008-09 school year.

IMPORTANT NOTE: These awards are solely determined on the whimsy of your friendly sports information director, and as always, your mileage may vary ...

The AND WHEN HE WASN'T DOING EVERYTHING ELSE, HE WAS MAKING POPCORN FOR THE CONCESSION STAND AND SAVING LITTLE PUPPIES, KITTENS, DUCKIES AND BUNNIES award ... to football wide receiver Royce Winford for his performance against Hamline on Oct. 4. On offense, he caught eight passes for 94 yards and the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter. And he caught a two-point conversion pass. And he also played on defense and had an interception and two tackles. And he returned a fumble on a Hamline conversion attempt the other way for two points for the Auggies. All in all, not a bad day at the office for Royce, who later was named All-MIAC, All-Region and the MIAC's MVP. And he's got a good shot to be named a D-III All-American when the awards are announced this Saturday.

The THERE'S NOT ENOUGH ROOM IN THE TROPHY CASE ANYMORE award ... to men's soccer defender Alex Hildebrandt, who is one of the top players in the conference AND a finance major with a 3.86 grade-point average. Let's count the number of awards Alex has received so far this year -- 1. All-MIAC; 2. All-MIAC Sportsmanship Team; 3. ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District first team; 4. ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America third team; 5. NSCAA/Adidas All-Far-West Region first team; 6. NSCAA/Adidas Division III All-America second team; 7. NSCAA/Adidas Scholar All-North/Central Region. And he might get another one for NSCAA/Adidias Scholar All-American before the week is over. And he'll be named an Academic All-MIAC honoree in the spring.

The SHE'S A BRICK ... HOUSE, IN A GOOD WAY award ... to women's soccer goalkeeper Maggie DeGroot. Like the great Commodores song (kids, that's a music group from the 70s ... look it up on Google) says, "she's mighty, mighty." She re-wrote the Augsburg record book for goalkeeping, with 37 career wins, 36 shutouts, a 0.68 career goals-against-average and 401 saves (.887 save percentage). This year, she went 10-4-4 with a 0.59 GAA and tied her single-season school record with 10 shutouts. She earned All-MIAC first-team honors for the second year in a row, All-Central Region honors for the first time, and in a true sign of respect, earned All-MIAC Sportsmanship team honors for the third straight year. Oh, and this year, she decided to play basketball as well, and is a reserve forward for the Auggies.

The PROOF THAT THERE IS STILL A "STUDENT" IN STUDENT-ATHLETE award ... to football quarterback Jordan Berg. Let the critics criticize big-time college athletics all they want. In Division III, the concept of the student-athlete is still alive and well. Jordan ended his career as the top passing quarterback in school history, finishing with 8,777 passing yards on 796-of-1,350 passing with 74 touchdowns, all school records, in just three seasons at Augsburg (and he did it during his senior year while battling a knee injury over the second half of the season). He earned All-MIAC and all-region honors and was one of four regional finalists for the Gagliardi Trophy as the outstanding student-athlete in Division III football. And he did this all while maintaining a 3.80 grade-point average with a physics major. And he's a really good artist. And he does a ton of community service. And he restored his own Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Jordan is truly a renaissance man.

The HOLY COW, THAT'S NOT A TYPO, RIGHT? award ... to men's golfer Tony Vanyo, who shot a 7-under-par 65 in the final round of the Gustavus Twin Cities Classic -- considered the top small-college golf meet in the Midwest -- on Sept. 29. The round was an Augsburg school record and tied for three others for the second-lowest single-round score in MIAC history. And Tony was really cool about the whole thing -- in a blog post about his round, he ended simply: "I was thinking to myself, '65 sounds a lot better than 66'." Tony ended up averaging 74.2 strokes per-round this fall and finished second at the MIAC championships, part of a great turnaround for head coach Ted Vickerman's men's golfers, who finished third as a team in the conference meet.

The IT'S NOT ABOUT HOW YOU START, IT'S ABOUT HOW YOU FINISH award ... to the Auggie volleyball team. Augsburg started the season well, going 6-3 in the first two weeks of play. But then the Auggies struggled, losing four straight matches to fall to 8-8 midway through the campaign. But something clicked, and coach Jessica Rinehart's crew went on a dramatic run to finish the season just shy of making the six-team MIAC postseason tournament. In the final stretch, Augsburg won four straight MIAC matches in the five-set limit, including breaking a 31-match losing streak to St. Olaf in an incredible home win on Oct. 15. Augsburg finished 17-12, tying the most wins for the Auggies since 1998.

The BORN TO RUN award ... to cross country dynamo Brent Haglund. He had one of the best seasons for an Auggie harrier ever, winning two races while placing second in another, setting a school record in the 8,000-meter men's distance (25:15.27), finishing seventh at the MIAC championships and sixth at the Division III Central Regional to become the first Auggie since 1996 to qualify for the Division III national championships. And at the national meet, he fell just two seconds shy of his previous school record and finished 57th overall. And he's just a junior.

The SOMETIMES, GREATNESS DOESN'T SHOW UP ON THE STAT SHEET award ... to men's soccer midfielder James See and women's soccer defender Felicia Faison. Both weren't lighting up the scoreboard -- See had two goals and six assists in his career, while Faison had one goal and five assists in her career. But both were considered among the top players in the conference at their positions throughout their careers. James was the unquestioned leader of an Auggie men's soccer team that improved throughout his career and made the NCAA tournament for the first time this year. He earned All-MIAC honors three times and finally got his due regionally with an All-Far West Region honor this year. The same can be said for Felicia, who was the model for an outstanding outside defender, earning All-MIAC first-team honors and All-Central Region first team honors this year.

The IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A FIVE-TOOL PLAYER IN VOLLEYBALL? award ... to volleyball player Julie Jenkins. In baseball, a "five-tool player" is someone who can do it all, both at the plate and on defense (think Alex Rodriguez or Justin Morneau). In volleyball, Jenkins would fit that description. A dominant outside hitter, she finished with 250 kills and 77 blocks. As the team's No. 2 setter, she recorded 97 assists. And as an all-around outstanding athlete, she finished with 238 digs. In her three seasons at Augsburg, she finished with 643 kills, 1,046 assists, 99 aces, 687 digs and 238 blocks -- believed to be the first player in school history to record at least 600 kills, 600 digs and 1,000 assists in a career. She earned All-MIAC honors this year.

The ROAD WARRIORS award ... to the Augsburg men's soccer team, for an incredible postseason, all of it played away from Minneapolis. Making the MIAC playoffs as the No. 3 seed, the Auggies broke a 12-game losing streak to Gustavus with a dominating 3-0 semifinal win in St. Peter. Then, the Auggies played one of the most dramatic games of the year with a 0-0 game at Carleton in the MIAC championship game, a title the Knights claimed on penalty kicks. In the Auggies' first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III national playoffs, they had to fly to Spokane, Wash., for a first-round advancement in a penalty kick shootout at Whitworth, and then flew from Spokane to Los Angeles for a 1-0 win at Redlands (Calif.) in the second round. And finally, in bone-chilling conditions in Dubuque, Iowa, the Auggies' magical run came to an end with a 2-1 loss in two overtimes at Loras (Iowa), in a Sweet Sixteen game that will be remembered as a classic struggle between two great teams. What a run for the Auggies, finishing 12-4-7 overall under fifth-year coach Greg Holker.

The KING OF THE BONUS POINTS award ... to Auggie wrestler Travis Lang. The 133-pounder has started the season 14-0 and is ranked No. 1 in the nation in the D-III national polls. Of his 14 wins so far, 13 have been bonus-point triumphs -- 10 pins, one major decision and two technical falls. Last season, his first as an Auggie after transferring from Division I Minnesota, he finished 38-4 and had 28 bonus-point wins (21 pins, four technical falls, three major decisions), en route to a fifth-place national finish.

The WHAT A FALL! award ... to Augsburg's fall sports teams. For the first time in school history, the four Augsburg fall team sport squads all finished with .500 or better records -- football finished 5-5, men's soccer finished 12-4-7, women's soccer finished 10-4-4 and volleyball finished 17-12. And the individual sport squads also shined, as the Auggie men's golf team placed third in the league meet, the women's golfers had an individual in the top 25 in the conference meet, and the men's and women's cross country teams both improved in both league and regional action, with two all-region honoree and a national meet qualifier. In all, 28 Auggies earned All-MIAC first-team, second-team or honorable-mention honors from fall sports. And if that great fall is any indication of how well the Auggie sports year will be, then winter and spring should be great as well!

And finally, my personal choices for the outstanding individual athletes of the first half of the year ...

OUTSTANDING MALE ATHLETE OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR -- Royce Winford, football. Honorable-mention choices: Alex Hildebrandt, men's soccer; Brent Haglund, men's cross country/track and field; Travis Lang, wrestling; Tony Vanyo, men's golf; James See, men's soccer. Players to watch for in the winter and spring: Jon Cassens, men's basketball; Nate Alm, men's basketball; Chris Johnson, men's hockey; Jared Massey, wrestling; Seth Flodeen, wrestling; Craig Henry, baseball; Jon-Eric Urseth, baseball; Nick Ward, men's track and field; Colby Anderson, men's golf.

OUTSTANDING FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR -- Maggie DeGroot, women's soccer. Honorable-mention choices: Felicia Faison, women's soccer; Jennifer Lovering, women's cross country; Julie Jenkins, volleyball; Katie Christensen, volleyball. Players to watch for in the winter and spring: Christa Suedbeck, women's basketball; Shannon Renne, women's basketball; Tiffany Magnuson, women's hockey/softball; Jennifer Castillo, softball; Whitney Holman, women's track and field/women's soccer.

MOST IMPROVED MALE ATHLETE OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR -- Victor Sanchez, men's cross country. Honorable-mention choices: D.J. Wendell, men's soccer; Colby Anderson, men's golf; Jason Potts, football; Muneer Al-Hameed, football; Nick Anderson, men's soccer.

MOST IMPROVED FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR -- Katie Christensen, volleyball. Honorable-mention choices: Shanna Reed, volleyball; Katie Medd, women's soccer; Stefani Zappa, women's golf; Sadie Dietrich, women's cross country; Barbara Simmons, volleyball.

MALE ROOKIE OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR -- Tony Vanyo, men's golf. Honorable-mention choices: Dan Brown, football; Peter Loyd, men's soccer; Marcus Elmerskog, men's soccer; Peter Joppru, football; Andy Grzesiak-Grimm, men's basketball; Nick Guran, men's hockey.

FEMALE ROOKIE OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR -- Serenae Levine, women's basketball. Honorable-mention choices: Kali Holst, women's hockey; Lisa Weniger, women's soccer; Kacie Bahr, women's cross country.