General | 04/29/22 | 4:15 PM

HELENA, Mont. – Last Sunday night, the Carroll College athletic department celebrated the fifth annual Halo Awards. It was an amazing night at the PE Center celebrating our student-athletes for all they do in their sports, in the classroom, and in the community. All of the student-athletes gathered with coaches, staff, and many other supporters and it was truly a night to remember.

Below is a summary of each award, as well as the nominees and recipients of the awards presented at the ceremony.

Top Individual GPA – Awarded to the athlete on each team who holds the highest cumulative GPA among juniors and seniors.
 
Men's Basketball- Johnny Hilman (3.895)
Women's Basketball- Kyle Olson (3.986)
Football- TJ Abraham  (3.9098)
Volleyball- Katherine McEuen (4.0)
Men's Soccer- Kaden Connor (3.93)
Women's Soccer- Blair Stapleton (3.86)
Softball- Whitney Durocher  (3.922)
Men's Golf- Josh Neth (3.964)
Women's Golf- Echo Anderson (3.674)
Men's Track and Field- Christopher Abell (3.64)
Women's Track and Field- Kate Picanco (3.9)
Men's Cross Country- Spencer Swaim (3.7)
Women's Cross Country- Katelyn McKay (3.9)
Cheer- Brooklyn Purcell (3.81)
 
Team High GPA – Presented to the sport whose Spring 2021 and Fall 2022 average GPA for the two semesters was the highest.
 
Winner: Women's Basketball (3.69)
 
The Fighting Saints Spirit Award – goes to the member of the Cheer team that has gone above and beyond to support the Carroll Cheer team and all of the Carroll Athletic teams. 
 
Winner: Nick Pruitt-Escobar
 
Female and Male Newcomer of the Year – This award honors the best freshman, redshirt freshman, or transfer that has made an impact in their first year.
 
Female Nominees: Liz Heuiser (Volleyball), Chloe Gallagher (Track and Field), Kenna Thomas (Softball)
Female Winner: Liz Heuiser
 
Male Nominees: Jack Prka (Football), Brett Glaser (Track and Field), Andrew Cook (Men's Basketball)
Male Winner: Jack Prka
 
Female and Male Comeback Player of the Year – This award is given to the athlete who has shown the most perseverance in overcoming adversity. The winners of this award have shown courage, determination, and the heart of a Saint when returning to their sport. Athletes eligible for this award are coming back from an absence. A general redshirt does not count, but a medical redshirt does.
 
Female Nominees: Ellie Stevens (Women's Soccer), Michaela Fetzer (Softball)
Female Winner: Michaela Fetzer
 
Male Nominees: Colin Sassano (Football), Jonny Hillman (Men's Basketball), Dade McDevitt (Men's Soccer)
Male Winner: Jonny Hillman
 
Performance of the Year – Every game, match, meet or race is an opportunity to compete. We all have better days than others, but sometimes, you have a day where everything is going right. Those performances can change seasons and take a team to the next level. This award honors those incredible performances.
 
Nominees: 
 
Lee Walburn – Men's Track and Field. Lee's performance at the NAIA Outdoor Championship was exceptional. He won the National Championship in the Decathlon! Over the two days, he set an overall personal best and had personal records in seven of the ten events.
 
Dani Wagner - Women's Basketball. Dani's performance at the NAIA Regional finals vs two teams ranked in the top 25 in the country led the Saints to two big wins. This marked the first time since 2008 that the Saints have won two games at the National Tournament.  Dani led the Saints in scoring in both games and averaged 21 points and 4 rebounds per game.  She shot 17-of-26 from the field (65%) and 9-of-16 from the three-point line (57%).
 
TJ Abraham - Football. TJ didn't let two broken bones in his foot stop him from excelling on the field. Against the College of Idaho, he recorded 19 Tackles and two Forced Fumbles on his way to being selected as the NAIA National Defensive Player of the Week.
 
Winner: Lee Walburn
 
Most Impressive Play – This award is given to the most impressive, standout, explosive play of the year. This year, the fans voted for the winner on the Carroll College SAAC Instagram account.
 
Nominees: Tony Collins with his acrobatic hail mary touchdown catch against MSU-Northern (Football), Jessica Nimmo with her impressive superwoman diving catch in left-center leading to a double-play (Softball), and Andrew Cook breaking his defender down off the dribble and finishing with a one-handed dunk (Men's Basketball).
 
Winner: Jessica Nimmo
 
Most Impressive Team Performance – This award is presented to the Carroll College athletic team that has been most impressive during the Spring of 2021 and Fall od 2022. It aims to recognize the team who had the most successful performance.
 
Nominees:
 
Women's Basketball – The Women's Basketball team won the NAIA Regional Championships in New Orleans, La. and advanced to the round of 16. This is the first time since 2008 the WBB team has won two games at the National Tournament.  These Saints were ranked as high as No. 7 in the Nation and they finished the year at No. 11. The Saints beat NAIA 2021 National Champions Westmont and lost by 1 to the 2022 National Champions in overtime. They had the second highest field goal percentage (46%) as a team in school history, fourth highest point total and the seventh best win percentage in school history at .771, finishing the season at 27-8.
 
Women's Cross Country – The Women's Cross Country was consistently ranked in the national top 20 all year! They won the conference championship over top-25 ranked Rocky and Montana Tech by putting all five scorers in the top 11. This granted them a birth to the national meet where they placed 16th overall!
 
Women's Golf - The Women's Golf team won the first Women's Golf Conference Championship in school history. They had a great year and showed great perseverance during the conference championship!
 
Winner: Women's Basketball
 
Most Supportive Professor – With this award, we recognize a professor who has been accommodating, supportive, and caring for student-athletes. Individual faculty members are nominated by SAAC members and voted on by the student-athletes. 
 
Winners: Jeannette Fregulia and Brent Northup
 
Female and Male Scholar-Athlete – This award honors the student-athletes who are elite in both the classroom and in the field of play, who show great balance in both their athletic and academic accomplishments. This individual must be at least a sophomore academically. Class work, major, academic, accomplishments, athletic performance, and athletic awards were all taken into account.
 
Female Nominees: Taelyr Krantz (Volleyball), Katie Anderson (Women's Soccer), Katelyn McKay (Cross Country).
Female Winner: Taelyr Krantz
 
Male Nominees: Shamrock Campbell (Men's Basketball), Kaden Connor (Men's Soccer), TJ Abraham (Football).
Male Winner: TJ Abraham
 
Female and Male Athlete of the Year – This award honors the best individual athlete for the 2021-22 season.
 
Female Nominees: Reghan Worley (Cross Country), Taelyr Krantz (Volleyball), Dani Wagner (Women's Basketball)
Female Winner: Dani Wagner
 
Male Nominees: Lee Walburn (Track and Field), Andrew Carter (Football), Jovan Sljivancanin (Men's Basketball)
Male Winner: Lee Walburn
 
Servant Leadership Award – The Servant Leadership Award was created to honor individuals within Carroll Athletics and the Carroll community that show continued and strong support of the Carroll College student-athletes.
 
Winner: Daniel Salle
 
St. Sebastian Award - Saint Sebastian is the patron saint of athletes. This award represents everything that we want a Carroll college student athlete to be. A person of strong athletic and academic performance, someone with high character and great leadership. This person is an athlete that is held in high regard by their fellow student athletes and by the Carroll community as a whole.
 
Female Winner: Jaidyn Lyman (Women's Basketball)
Male Winner: Thomas Robitaille (Football)

If you would like to check out some images from the Halo Awards, head on over to the photo gallery of pictures captured at the event by Gary Marshall.