Central SAAC hosts third-annual Dutchies
Central Dutch Athletics
Commemorating the last year of Central College athletics, the Central Student-Athlete Advisory Council hosted the Dutchies this past Sunday night inside P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium.
For the third year in a row, SAAC hosted the Dutchies to honor the best in Dutch athletics from April 1, 2017 to March 1, 2018. Coaches nominated their student-athletes before a seven-member committee whittled it down to four finalists and eventually selecting a winner.
The Dutchies handed out nine awards ranging from Male and Female Athlete of the Year to the Moment of the Year.
Freshman Male Athlete of the Year—Blaine Hawkins (Ankeny) took over as the Dutch quarterback in the second quarter of the Nebraska Wesleyan game on September 23 and mounted a comeback from 17-0 down to win 52-27. Central was 6-1 with Hawkins under center as he piled up 2,284 total offensive yards and contributed on 27 touchdowns to earn honorable mention all-Iowa Conference recognition.
Freshman Female Athlete of the Year— Starting all 42 games in center field, Sara Tallman (Pella) set a program record with 58 hits in her first season. She scored 48 runs and stole 24 bases while maintaining a .408 batting average out of the leadoff spot in the Dutch line-up. A first team all-Iowa Conference honoree, Tallman was also a second-team NFCA All-Midwest Region selection.
Coaching Staff of the Year— Head Coach Mike Kobylinski and assistant coaches Kelsey Roxworthy and Russ Goodman piloted the Central women’s soccer team a 14-2-3 record , setting a school record for highest winning percentage in a season at .816. The trio were named the co-Iowa Conference Coaching Staff of the Year.
Male Record-Breaking Performance of the Year— In the fourth start of his career, Hawkins set or tied three school records against Loras College in a 65-24 victory. He threw for a school record 367 passing yards and ran for 131 more to set the mark for total offensive yards in a game at 498. He also tied the record for touchdown passes in a game at five. As a team, the Dutch also compiled an all-time best 693 yards of total offense.
Female Record-Breaking Performance of the Year— Breaking her own record for the second time, Emily Dine (senior, Oldsmar, Fla., East Bay HS) hit 11 3-pointers against Knox College on December 29. Dine dropped a personal-best 33 points while going 11-for-18 from beyond the arc in that contest. The graduating senior also holds the school record for most 3-point field goals in a season at 82 and most 3-point field goals in a career at 225.
Male Athlete of the Year— At the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships in March, Will Daniels (sophomore, Geneseo, Ill.) became the 33rd Individual National Champion in school history by winning the heptathlon. Daniels’s total of 5,287 points is the fifth-best mark all-time in Division III and No. 2 at Central. Adding a seventh-place finish in the high jump and teammate Ryan Kruse’s third-place finish in the heptathlon, Central finished tied for ninth in the team standings.
Female Athlete of the Year—The 2017 Iowa Conference Most Valuable Pitcher, Karly Olson (2018 grad, Winterset) achieved a 16-5 record in the circle with a 1.97 ERA. She pitched eight complete game shutouts and had five games with at least six strikeouts. For three straight weeks last April, Olson was named the Iowa Conference Pitcher of the Week. In addition to her Iowa Conference honors, Olson was a first team NFCA All-Midwest Region choice.
Team of the Year—A 32-10 overall record for the Dutch softball team was bolstered by a 13-3 mark in Iowa Conference play. The Iowa Conference runners-up, Central grabbed the program’s 28th berth in the NCAA Division III playoff field. The Dutch posted the fourth-highest team batting average in school history, hitting .335, and rank fifth all-time in slugging percentage at .448. Central also had 73 doubles, matching the season record set in 2015.
Moment of the Year—Competing in their first Iowa Conference Indoor Championships, the freshmen trio of Mary Gray (freshman, West Des Moines, Waukee HS), Kiki Pingel (freshman, Pella) and Courtney Kruthoff (freshman, Erie, Ill.) grabbed all three spots atop the pentathlon podium. Each of the three women placed in the top-three of one of the five disciplines at twice, with Gray in the top-three four times.
