The first WALLYS awards banquet was hosted by the Wabash Student-Athlete Advisory Committee on Monday night at the Knowling Fieldhouse. The WALLYS, standing for Wabash Athletics Leadership & Legacy Year-End Social, is a new initiative to honor Wabash student-athletes, coaches, and teams for their outstanding efforts and achievements throughout the 2018-19 athletic seasons. All nominees were determined by Wabash coaches with winners voted on by all student-athletes.
The WALLYS was coordinated by SAAC representatives
Sam Colaiacova (Swimming),
Blake Juerling (Baseball),
Justin Kopp (Golf, Soccer),
Nikko Morris (Football), and
Kate Burke (Advisor).
COMMUNITY IMPACT PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Erich Lange (Baseball)
- Lange has given significant time and effort to the community, has noticeably made an effort to make the community a better place, and has committed to community service and outreach in Crawfordsville.
- Lange led the Baseball team community outreach efforts for the past two years and established an on-going relationship with the Boys & Girls Club.
Also nominated were
Owen Doster (Wrestling) and
Austin Nightingale (Football)
COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Russell Berning (Football)
- Berning is a student-athlete who exceeded personal and team expectations in the face of adversity to excel in his athletic pursuits.
- He was injured part way through the 2017 season, and after surgery came back to be named First Team All-NCAC in 2018.
Also nominated were
Kyle Louks (Swimming & Diving) and
Abdoulie Waggeh (Soccer).
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Jack Davidson
- Jack Davidson was named the NCAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year, the National Basketball Coaches Association Great Lakes Region Player of the Year, earned D3hoops.com Second Team All-America honors, and was an NABC First Team All-American, the first Wabash basketball player to earn First Team All-America honors since 1982. Davidson also earned Google Cloud Academic All-America Second Team honors.
- Davidson was the top scoring sophomore in Division III, averaging 25.1 points per game.
- Davidson broke the NCAA all-divisions record for consecutive free throws made by hitting 95 in row.
- Davidson earned all-conference honors.
Also nominated were
Preston Whaley (Track & Field) and
Darden Schurg (Wrestling).
HEAD COACH OF THE YEAR: Kyle Brumett (Basketball)
- Under Brumett's leadership, Wabash Basketball finished 21-6 overall and 14-4 in the NCAC for third place in the conference standings.
- Posted the 10th 20-win season in Wabash history, the first since the 2010-2011 team won 20 games.
- The 14 conference wins are the most since Wabash joined the NCAC in 1999-2000.
- The Little Giants won their first ten games of the season, the best start by a Wabash team since 2010-2011.
- Wabash led Division III and was second in all divisions in the NCAA in free throw shooting, hitting 81.7 of its attempts on the year.
Also nominated were
Don Morel (Football) and
Brian Anderson (Wrestling).
TEAM OF THE YEAR: 2018 Baseball
- Wabash won the 2018 NCAC Baseball Tournament and earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history. The Little Giants advanced to the championship game of the Mideast Regional before losing 4-2 to fifth-ranked Wooster. During its regional run, Wabash defeated Marietta College, 14th-ranked LaRoche College, Ithaca College, and 25th-ranked Adrian College. Bryce Aldridge, Bryan Roberts, and Zach Moffett were all named to the Mideast Region All-Tournament Team.
- Aldridge and Roberts were also named to the 2018 American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings DIII All-Mideast Region Team.
- Aldridge was named the NCAC Baseball Tournament Most Valuable Player. He was joined on the All-Tournament team by Sean Roginski and Jackson Blevins.
- Bryan Roberts, Bryce Aldridge, Sean Roginski, Jackson Blevins, Eric Chavez, Zach Moffett, and Jared Wolfe each earned places on the 2018 All-NCAC Team. All seven players received all-conference recognition for the first time in their careers.
Also nominated were
Football,
Wrestling, and
Basketball.
