Club Sports Choice Awards ceremony highlights student-athletes’ stellar performances, service

Gallery: (5-1-2024) Choice Awards 2024

Liberty University's Club Sports and Flames Central co-anchors Rett McGibbon and Matt Warner welcomed a full house to the Center for Music and the Worship Arts Concert Hall for Wednesday night's annual Choice Awards, with the majority of the department's student-athletes and most of its coaches, trainers, and administrators as well as President Dondi Costin and his wife, Vickey, on hand to celebrate team and individual accomplishments throughout the 2023-24 academic year.

The ceremony featured four highlight videos produced by Club Sports Video & Media team, directed by Patrick Strawn and coordinated by Kylee Lilge. Two of the videos focused on spiritual leadership within the department and student-athletes whose lives have been changed through the program, with record numbers being baptized this season and many making first-time commitments to Christ.

"Spiritual development of our student-athletes is the most important thing that we do around here," Club Sports Vice President and Athletic Director Kirk Handy said. "It's the foundation of what we do. Taking our faith and taking the sport that we play together is one of the most powerful things that we can do as Liberty University coaches in training our student-athletes well."

Club Sports' 44 teams and their 725 student-athletes enjoyed tremendous success individually and as programs with the archery, men's cycling, disc golf, equestrian, figure skating, gymnastics, DI, DII, and DIII men's hockey, DI and DII women's hockey, men's lacrosse, men's swimming, men's volleyball, men's and women's wrestling, racquetball, rock climbing, shotgun, ski & snowboard, taekwondo, and triathlon teams all represented at their respective national championships.

After a breakthrough performance for its men's teams at the USCSA National Championships in Lake Placid, the men's and women's ski & snowboard teams were awarded Club Sports Team of the Year and first-year Head Coach Tyler Sherbine was named Coach of the Year.

The Flames and Lady Flames wound up as men's freestyle skiing and snowboarding national champions as well as women's freestyle snowboarding national champions with a clean sweep of first-place finishes in the Rail Jam, Slopestyle, and Boardercross events. Individually, the Flames' snowboard team had two national champions in senior Jesse Mast (Slopestyle) and junior Tate Gardner (Rail Jam), while senior Isabella Tinney claimed gold medals in both the women's Rail Jam and Slopestyle. Gardner also received the Male Outstanding Performance award for his gold-medal run in the Rail Jam, after returning from a broken elbow injury suffered last fall.

Graduate Julia DiMartino and senior Maggie Presley were both honored for the Female Outstanding Performance after combining to capture the Division I women's title at last month's College Disc Golf (CDG) National Championships in Rock Hill, S.C.

Graduate men's wrestler Josiah Murphy was named the Male Athlete of the Year after three-peating as NCWA Grand National Champion, even after moving up from 197 to 235 pounds.

Senior Hunt Seat equestrian rider Maggie Saunders, who qualified for the Cacchione Cup at this weekend's IHSA National Championships in North Carolina, was named the Female Athlete of the Year.

Liberty's ACHA Division II men's hockey senior defenseman Rece Poulin received the Male Champion Award, given to a senior captain who has demonstrated commitment, leadership, and service to their teams through their athletic, academic, and leadership performance. Kristine Neumeyer, a gold-medal winning member of the figure skating team who will graduate next weekend before launching her career as a neonatal nurse at Duke University Hospital, was honored with the Female Champion Award.

ACHA DII men's hockey junior forward and head captain Josh Harrell received the Male Perseverance Award after returning from shoulder surgery to lead the Flames to a 2-1 record at nationals near St. Louis. ACHA DII women's hockey senior goalie Kylie Mebs earned the Female Perseverance Award after recovering from a fracture in her back to post her fourth shutout of the season in the Lady Flames' final round of pool play at nationals.

The DII women also were honored with the Breakthrough Award after qualifying for the ACHA National Championships for the first time in four years and finishing 2-1 in the tournament.

Liberty's men's and women's triathlon team was honored with the Team Perseverance award after showing resilience and support for the family of team member Josiah Fowler, a rising senior who died following a cycling crash in nearby Campbell County last May.

James Anderssen, who helped guide the men's swimming team to its second consecutive second-place showing at the College Club Swimming (CCS) National Championships in Indianapolis in his first season, was named the Assistant Coach of the Year.

Men's swimming freshman distance swimmer Thomas Hill, who excelled under Anderssen's tutelage, was honored as the Male Rookie of the Year while Elena Gigoux, a freshman on the rifle team, received the Female Rookie of the Year award. Her head coach, Marlene Gray, was the recipient of the Legacy Award for engaging alumni of the sixth-year program.

While 360 student-athletes — almost exactly half of those enrolled full-time — made the Dean's List for maintaining grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher, 149 were recognized for balancing participation in their respective sports with exceptional work in the classroom, managing perfect 4.0 GPAs.

Nathan Hoell, a senior on the taekwondo team, was selected as the Male Academic Athlete award-winner while senior archer Grace Wahl was recognized as the Female Academic Athlete of the year.

Sawyer Magnett, a Flames Club ambassador who will graduate next weekend with a B.S. in Sport Management, was recognized as the Female Academic Integration Athlete of the year while junior DIII men's hockey forward Luke Bessire earned the Male Academic Integration Athlete award.

Dr. Bruce Kirk, a Digital Media & Journalism associate professor whose networks have won several Emmy Awards for news and sports broadcasts over the past three decades, was granted the Academic Partnership Award for embracing the vision of Club Sports and providing students who have produced exceptional coverage of Liberty's five hockey teams as well as its men's lacrosse and other programs.

The Male Student Service Award went to Andrew Musser for his photography, videography, and social media support of the men's lacrosse team while Kate Foelsch earned the Female Student Service Award for her work with the men's swimming team.

The synchronized skating team was the recipient of the Community Service Award for its work with charitable organizations in the Lynchburg area.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Videos by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media

Club Sports Choice Awards ceremony highlights student-athletes’ stellar performances, service

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Kylie Mebs

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