2017-18 Fontbonne Athletic Awards & Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—On Saturday night, the Fontbonne University Athletics Department hosted its annual Awards Ceremony and inducted Kate Evers, Patrick McCoy, Meghan Mulvihill Taylor and Kendra Schilli Swift into the Hall of Fame.

Team Valedictorian Award

The Team Valedictorian Award is given to the team with the highest cumulative grade point average.

The women's cross country team that consisted of Colleen Gosser, Katie Gosser, Emily Bay, Sarah Rhoads and Jennie Stare took home the award after having a combined cumulative grade point average of 3.90. Stare accepted the honor for the team.

The Mary Schoendienst Award

This award is given to a Fontbonne University female student-athlete who has demonstrated the strongest athletic performance based on statistical evidence, talent, and performance.  This award winner was nominated by the coaching staff and the final decision was made by the Director of Athletics.

The winner of this honor went to women's soccer player Meredith Wendt. The Troy, Illinois, native, had a career year for the Griffins where she posted 16 goals, 11 assists for 43 points, which are all new career-high marks. With those kinds of numbers, the SLIAC awarded her All-Conference First Team. She finished with five game-winning goals as well.

Off the pitch, Wendt was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team and Scholar All-North/Central Region Third Team.

The Lee McKinney Scholar Athlete Award

Academics are the primary focus for Division III student-athletes. The Lee McKinney scholar-athlete award is given to the student-athlete who best represents the University in the classroom. These students must have attained the status of either junior or senior academically in order to be eligible for this award.

The duo of Stephen Lendy and Kayla Winkler both were honored after each of them posted a perfect 4.0 GPA. Lendy, who won the award last year, is an Elementary Education major and was a part of the men's volleyball, men's tennis and track and field teams. Winkler, meanwhile, is a Speech-Language Pathology major and she played softball at Fontbonne.

Berlin Cole Award

Berlin tragically passed away in a motorcycle accident in the fall of his sophomore year. This award is to represent and honor Berlin's legacy by acknowledging the Fontbonne University student who lives with these same morals of inclusion, acceptance, and true caring for their neighbors.

Connor Mallett, a freshman, was chosen by head coach Mark Prey for the actions that he displays on and off the field to honor Berlin's legacy.

"Connor loves competing and loves his teammates," said Prey. "These simple actions are what we aim to honor Berlin's legacy with, Connor lives fully with these values and shares them with others. We will miss Berlin forever, though too we will have strength forever moving forward with the spirit of students like Connor Mallett. Thank you Connor, we appreciate you!"

The Bryan Kennedy Award

This award has been established to honor the memory of Bryan Kennedy, a past men's basketball player at Fontbonne. Bryan collapsed at practice during the 1997-98 season. Measures were taken to revive Bryan after his unexpected collapse but those efforts were unsuccessful. We, unfortunately, lost a part of the Fontbonne Family that day to an undiagnosed heart condition. Years after Bryan lost his life on this floor the Fontbonne community set up an award in his name to recognize a student-athlete that demonstrates the attributes of a true team player and places the team's success ahead of his or her own no matter what the circumstance they are facing in their lives as Bryan always did.

This year's winner went to senior baseball player Michael Golich. The Aurora, Illinois, native, was named to the SLIAC All-Conference First Team after batting a career-high .412 and totaling 61 hits. He also struck out just six times in 148 at-bats. When not at the plate or in the field, Golich is on the bench cheering on his teammates and being one of the vocal leaders on the club.

The Angelo Simaku Award

The Angelo Simaku 100% Award honors men's soccer player Angelo Simaku who died one year after coming to Fontbonne. Simaku participated in many Fontbonne community activities, demonstrating his positive attitude in all aspects of student life. Simaku died of a brain tumor but was kept alive for four days while recipients were four for his organs. A little boy in Pittsburgh received Angelo's heart, so a piece of him lived on.

Corey Schmidt was picked by the committee for the award. Head Coach Donnie Alberty spoke highly of Corey as to what he brings to the program day in and day out, "Corey Schmidt is the prototypical teammate. He is very supportive, unselfish and constantly strives to make the team better as a whole, often sacrificing individual accolades for the sake of the whole program. Corey was our captain and leader, but he's so much more than that. He's the type of player that teams look to when the adversity sets in and the pressure mounts."

He added, "These type of situations are when Corey was at his best, maintaining composure and constantly keeping us on the right path. Our program is much better because Corey was in it and we are grateful and appreciate for him."

The Meneve Dunham Award

This award is given to a Fontbonne University student-athlete who has made the most significant contribution to athletics at Fontbonne University for this school year. The criteria for this award includes individual talent, facilitation of team play, contribution to the University outside of their role as a student-athlete, and classroom performance. This student-athlete should also represent Fontbonne with great character.

This award went to women's soccer player Maddie Redohl. The Fenton, Missouri, native, was a four-year starter on the team and this past year was named captain. Off the field, she's a member of STARS, SAAC, Alpha Lamba Delta Honor Society, Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society, Psi Chi and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, internship in the annual giving department, an internship at Shriner Hospital and of the Psychology Club.

The Red Schoendienst Award

This award is given to a Fontbonne University male student-athlete who has demonstrated the strongest athletic performance based on statistical evidence, talent, and performance.  This award winner was nominated by the coaching staff and the final decision was made by the Director of Athletics.

This year, the duo of Zach Rothstein (men's volleyball) and Luke Summers (baseball) were named the Red Schoendienst Award recipients.

Rothstein, an Evergreen Park, Illinois, native, finished his sophomore campaign with a single-season record and career-high 331 digs. He ranked first in the MCVL and NCAA Division III in digs per set (3.64).

He was named MCVL Defensive Player of the Week three times, along with being named to the MCVL First Team and winning MCVL Defensive Player of the Year.

Summers also had a standout year on the diamond for the Griffins. The hurler was named to the SLIAC First Team and SLIAC Co-Pitcher of the Year after going 7-3 with a 2.10 ERA in 77.0 innings pitched. He also struck out a single-season and career-high 83 batters.

He averaged 9.70 strikeouts per nine innings and didn't allow an earned run in his final 19.2 innings pitched.  

2018 Hall of Fame Inductees

Kate Evers, a 2007 graduate, was a member of the softball, women's basketball and track and field teams at Fontbonne. While on the softball team, Evers was a four-time all-conference selectee, including three First Team awards. She also garnered All-Region in each of her four seasons.

In her career, she was a .375 hitter, totaling 125 runs scored, 167 hits, 25 doubles, eight triples, five homers, 82 RBI and 106 stolen bases.

On the court, she ranks third all-time with 262 steals and was a three-time all-conference honoree. In her career, she appeared in 101 games, shot 42.0 percent from the floor, totaled 385 rebounds, 277 assists, 81 blocks and 411 points.

Patrick McCoy, a 2009 graduate, was a standout player on the men's basketball team. He's a two-time SLIAC All-Conference Second Team selectee, was named to the 2005-06 All-Conference Honorable Mention Team and was named the 2007 SLIAC Tournament Most Valuable Player.

He appeared in 102 games, shot 43.4 percent from the floor, totaled 243 made 3-pointers, 326 rebounds, and 417 assists. He averaged 14.5 points per game and ranks sixth all-time with 1,480 career points.

Mulvihill Taylor, a 2001 graduate, was a four-time SLIAC All-Conference selectee on the women's basketball team. She ranks fourth all-time in career points (1,146), fourth in made 3-pointers (180), third all-time in assists (341), and second all-time in 3-point percentage (38.2). She closed out her career averaging 11.3 points per game.

Schilli Swift, a 2012 graduate, ranks first all-time in goals (48), assists (36) and points (132) in the women's soccer record book. She was a four-time SLIAC All-Tournament honoree and a three-time SLIAC All-Conference selectee.

On the women's basketball team, she totaled 107 games played, shot 41.4 percent from the floor, totaled 614 rebounds, 248 assists, and 179 steals.

Congrats to everyone that was honored on Saturday evening!