ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) announced its Player of the Week award winners Tuesday in the sports of baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s outdoor track and field for the week of April 1-7, 2024. The UMAC Player of the Week awards are nominated by UMAC coaches and athletics communications/sports information staff and selected each week by the latter group.
BASEBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ryan McGie,
Junior, University of Minnesota Morris
Minnetonka, Minn. / Hopkins
- In the opening six games of UMAC play at Northwestern and at home against Northland, McGie batted .483 (14-of-29) with three doubles, a triple, and two home runs.
- He added two walks for a .516 on-base percentage and scored eight runs as the Cougars took two out of three in each series from the Eagles and LumberJacks.
BASEBALL PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Trent Ash, Freshman, Bethany Lutheran College
Springville, Utah / Springville
- Ash put forth his best outing of the season on Saturday afternoon for the Vikings, tossing seven innings and allowing zero earned runs to take the victory over North Central.
- He struck out a career high 12 batters while allowing just one hit in the contest.
SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sydney Lane, Junior, University of Northwestern
Altoona, Iowa / Grand View Christian
- Lane led the way offensively as the Eagles had a nearly unprecedented week, scoring a whopping 77 runs in a 5-0 week.
- Over the five games, she was 11-20 and eight of her 11 hits were for extra bases: four doubles, three triples, and a home run.
- She scored six runs and had 10 RBIs hitting primarily in the leadoff spot for the Eagles.
SOFTBALL PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Alyssa Thornton, Freshman, University of Minnesota Morris
San Diego, Calif. / West Hills
- Thornton flummoxed Northland hitting all weekend in a Minnesota Morris sweep.
- Starting twice in the three-game set, Thornton went 2-0 and allowed only one hit in 7.2 innings of work while striking out 10.
- On Saturday, she fired a five-inning no-hitter in a 10-0 Cougar win.
MEN’S TENNIS NORTH DIVISION PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Jacob Weddle, Junior, University of Northwestern
Rhinelander, Wis. / Rhinelander
- Weddle etched his name into the UNW record books on Saturday, becoming only the 5th men's player in program history to reach 100 combined wins. The junior only needed one win Saturday to reach the milestone, yet he went 3-1 on the day and 5-1 on the week.
- Friday vs. Crown, Weddle teamed with Stewart Morrell to win 8-3 at #1 doubles before winning 6-1, 6-0 at #2 singles.
- He achieved win #100 versus Wartburg on Saturday via an 8-7 (7-5) #1 doubles win before winning 6-1, 5-7, 10-6 at #2 singles.
- He also earned a 6-4, 6-2 win at #2 singles against UW-La Crosse.
WOMEN’S TENNIS NORTH DIVISION PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kiley Rodarmel, Senior, University of Minnesota Morris
Sartell, Minn. / Sartell
- Rodarmel helped Minnesota Morris pick up its first two wins of the year over UW-River Falls and Crown by going a combined 4-0 at No. 1 singles and doubles.
- Against the Falcons, Rodarmel came up clutch with an 8-7(3) win at doubles and a 6-3, 6-7(3), 10-6 win in singles to lock up a 6-3 victory.
- She then added an 8-2 win in doubles and a 6-2, 6-1 win in singles against Crown.
MEN’S TENNIS SOUTH DIVISION PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Jesús Soto Bossa, Sophomore, Principia College
Cartagena, Colombia
- Jesús went 3-1 on the week with two dominant wins at #1 singles (6-3, 6-0 vs Millikin and 6-0,6-3 vs Rose-Hulman).
WOMEN’S TENNIS SOUTH DIVISION PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Gaby Quintero, Junior, Principia College
Bogotá, Colombia / Colegio RR Oblatas al Divino Amor
- Gaby went 4-0 without dropping a set this week in two Principia wins over Webster and Rose-Hulman.
- She was dominant in both her #4 singles matches (6-1,6-3 vs Webster and 6-0,6-0 vs RHIT) and her #2 doubles matches (8-1 vs Webster and 8-5 vs RHIT).
MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Aaron Stewart, Freshman, Bethany Lutheran College
Mankato, Minn. / Mankato East
- Stewart kicked off the outdoor season in style, shattering two school records and placing himself at the top of the UMAC in the 100m and 200m.
- His 200m time of 21.77 currently ranks 46th nationally and fifth in the North Region, while his 100m time is .2 seconds ahead of the next UMAC competitor.
WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Deanna Trucksess, Junior, University of Northwestern
pirit Lake, Iowa / Spirit Lake
Finished in 4th place overall in the 100M dash at the Hamline Invite, finishing just .5 seconds behind the leader. Her time was 12.74 seconds. Also ran a 1:03.15 in the 400M Dash to finish in 13th place overall.
MEN’S OUTDOOR FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Nate Ohman, Senior, University of Wisconsin-Superior
Lake Nebagamon, Wis. / Northwestern
- Ohman continues his impressive senior campaign, as he won the shot put with a mark of 17.25 meters at the Hamline Invitational.
- This mark also serves as a new personal record for Ohman.
WOMEN’S OUTDOOR FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Stephanie Witbrod, Junior, Bethany Lutheran College
Douglas, Wyo. / Douglas
- Witbrod put together an all-around outstanding performance this weekend in the Heptathalon at the USD Early Bird, finishing in third place out of 18 competitors who were mainly Division II.
- She won both the long jump and shot put, with her long jump of 5.60m currently ranking 11th nationally while her total Heptathalon score of 4,171 is currently 10th.
- Of the seven events she competed in, she is top five in the UMAC in six of seven of them, ranking first in three.