ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) announced their Athlete of the Week award winners Tuesday in the sports of baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s track & field. The awards are nominated by UMAC coaches and athletics communications staff and selected each week by the latter group.
BASEBALL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Xander Meissner, Freshman, Bethany Lutheran Vikings
Parker, Colo. / Legend
- Meissner had a week to remember for the Vikings, batting .625 and slugging 1.438 thanks to four home runs. The freshman's first home run of the week came in the form of a walk-off to defeat No. 22 Gustavus on Tuesday, as he launched a two-out two-run blast over the right center field fence to give Bethany the 10-9 win. He then capped off his week on Saturday morning against Northland, going 5-for-5 and tying a BLC record by launching three home runs to jump into the top five nationally with nine total on the year.
BASEBALL PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Sean Gamble, Junior, Bethany Lutheran Vikings
Denton, Texas / MSU-Mankato
- After allowing a leadoff double in Saturday morning's contest, Gamble was dominant from that point forward, allowing just one other hit and walked one batter in a 7-inning complete game shutout win. The junior struck out 12 batters in the contest and has now went seven innings in his last two starts without allowing an earned run and picking up double digit strikeouts in both games.
SOFTBALL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Ellie Macal, Senior, UW-Superior Yellowjackets
Winona, Minn. / Cotter
- Macal paced Superior's offensive efforts during last week's UMAC series with Martin Luther. She went 8-8 at the plate, scoring five runs and driving in seven RBIs as the Yellowjackets left New Ulm with three wins to begin conference play. She sits third in average (.510) and total hits (26) on the team while sitting fourth in the league in batting average.
SOFTBALL PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Ireland Strubbe, Junior, Northwestern Eagles
Chandler, Ariz. / Valley Christian
- Ireland Strubbe recorded a 0.00 ERA this week in a win over Morris and a win against UW-Eau Claire to snap their 13 game win streak. Over the two games, she gave up 7 hits through 12 innings, while only walking 2 batters. Strubbe is 8-2 so far in the circle for UNW, and she leads the conference in opposing batting average with .215. Strubbe is second in teh UMAC with a 1.86 ERA, and is third in the conference in batters struck out with 55 after striking out five batters this week.
MEN’S TENNIS NORTH DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Griffen Jarchow, Junior, Northwestern Eagles
Luverne, Minn. / Luverne
- Jarchow led the way for UNW as they went 2-0 on Saturday with a 6-1 win over Ripon and a 7-0 sweep of Simpson. The junior won 6-1, 6-1 against Ripon and 7-5, 6-0 against Simpson in his No. 2 singles matches, and teamed with Caleb Swigart to win 6-2 and 6-1, respectively, at No. 2 doubles.
WOMEN’S TENNIS NORTH DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Abby Johnson, Junior, Northwestern Eagles
Zimmerman, Minn. / Homeschool
- Johnson went undefeated at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles in Saturday's 6-1 win over Ripon. The junior won 6-3, 6-1 in her No. 1 singles match and teamed with Aby Ross to win 6-4 at No. 1 doubles.
MEN’S TENNIS SOUTH DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Ignacio Zamora, Sophomore, Principia Panthers
La Paz, Bolivia
- Nacho Zamora played a great match against a tough opponent in Lake Forest College. He was playing up in the lineup due to injury for Principia. Zamora and partner Jesús Soto Bossa were clinical and able to win at 1st Doubles 6-4. In singles, Zamora played at the 3rd line, and battled extremely well in a tight 6-2, 7-5 loss to his opponent.
WOMEN’S TENNIS SOUTH DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Irlanda Oliver, Sophomore, Greenville Panthers
Mexico City, Mexico / Colegio Carol Baur
- Irlanda Oliver won her match at #1 doubles by a score of 6-0 and then handily won her #1 singles match 6-1, 6-0.
MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Stephen Wietzke, Sophomore, Martin Luther Knights
Pueblo West, Colo. / Pueblo West
- On Friday, Stephen Wietzke had a strong opening meet for the outdoor season at Saint John's. Wietzke took first in the 200m dash with a mark of 22.19 seconds, beating out the second-place finisher from UW-River Falls (22.32). In the 100m dash, Wietzke hit a PR time of 11.06 seconds, which was good for second behind the same runner from UW-River Falls. Wietzke was the top UMAC finisher in both events. The sophomore was also a part of the MLC 4x100m relay team, which broke the school record with a time of 43.40 seconds in the event.
WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Ella Dufault, Sophomore, Crown Polars
Waseca, Minn. / Waseca
- Dufault won the 1500m run at the CSB/SJU Optimistic with a time of 4:52.98 (1st in UMAC) breaking her own school record. Dufault also took third in the 800m run with a time of 2:21.33 (1st in UMAC).
MEN’S OUTDOOR FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Alexander Burnham, Sophomore, Crown Polars
New Prague, Minn. / New Prague
- Burnham set school records in the Shot Put with a throw of 14.57m (1st in UMAC) and the Discus with a throw of 35.14m (7th in UMAC). He also finished the Hammer throw with a throw of 35.25m (5th in UMAC).
WOMEN’S OUTDOOR FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Sidney Bader, Junior, UW-Superior Yellowjackets
Milltown, Wis. / Unity
- Bader garnered conference leads in both the shot put and javelin Friday at the CSB/SJU Optimistic Open. She placed 13th in the shot put with a mark of 10.98 meters while placing third overall in the javelin with a toss of 36.07 meters. Bader's javelin marks her 46th in NCAA Division III and second in the north region, while also breaking her own school record in the process.
The UMAC is an NCAA Division III member comprised of eight full-time member schools from Minnesota and Wisconsin: Bethany Lutheran College, Crown College, Martin Luther College, North Central University, Northland College, University of Minnesota Morris, University of Northwestern, and University of Wisconsin-Superior.
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