Northern Michigan's Bre Gaspervich dribbles while being defended by Michigan Tech's Lindsay Winter on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette photo by David Archambeau)

MARQUETTE — Athletic Director Award honorees from Northern Michigan University varsity athletic teams were recently named, as well as award winners from each team.

The Athletes of the Year were both freshmen swimmers — men’s team member Lajos Budai and women’s team member Rachel Helm.

Earning the Gildo Canale Outstanding Senior accolades are men’s skier Adam Martin and women’s basketball player Bre Gaspervich.

The Humanitarian of the Year award was presented to Ryan Borges of the NMU Olympic Training Site’s weightlifting team.

And the Coach of the Year was Jenny Ryan, who keeps busy year-round with the women’s cross country and the women’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams.

Budai was a three-time All-American, placing third in the 100-yard freestyle, fourth in the 100 backstroke and seventh in the 50 free at the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships.

At the GLIAC championship meet, Budai won the 50, 100 and 200 free and the 100 back while also anchoring the gold-medalist 800 freestyle relay. He was also named GLIAC Swimmer of the Year and Freshman of the Year.

Helm became the first NMU swimmer since 1999 to win a national championship by clocking a school-record 53.79 seconds in the 100 back at the NCAA meet. She also earned All-American honors with a third-place finish in the 200 back. The GLIAC Freshman of the Year, she won the 100 back, 100 butterfly, 100 free and 200 individual medley at the conference championship meet.

Martin leaves NMU as one of the most decorated Wildcats in its history. At the NCAA Skiing Championships, he raced to All-American finishes in the 10-kilometer freestyle and 20K classic in 2016 and the 10K classic and 20K freestyle this year.

As a senior, he took fifth in the skiathlon and the 50K freestyle at the U.S. Distance Championships and represented the U.S. at the World Under-23 Ski Championships for the second straight year.

During his junior campaign, he placed on the 15K classic podium at the U.S. Skiing Championships and finished in the top 10 in three events at the U.S. Long Distance Championships.

He also received the NCAA Skiing Elite 90 award, presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing at the finals site of each NCAA championship.

Gaspervich concluded her career with 1,028 points, good for 25th in the history of NMU women’s basketball. She also recorded 366 rebounds, 189 assists and 164 steals while starting 70 of the 113 games she appeared in. She averaged more than 10 points per game as a junior and senior and was team leader in steals per game three of her four seasons as a Wildcat.

She was also named Northern’s 2016 Female Athlete of the Year and earned spots on the 2016 and 2017 All-GLIAC Second and Defensive teams.

Borges was named the Marquette area’s Special Olympics Coach of the Year after helping start its first powerlifting team. He trained and coached the athletes at events across the state, including at the past two Michigan Special Olympics Games.

Through his involvement at the NMU-OTS, Borges volunteered at Pump Up The Dome, Marquette’s Spring Clean Up, Make a Difference Day and the Upper Peninsula Sports Training Camp at Bay Cliff Health Camp, run by Marquette-Alger Regional Educational Service and Special Olympics Michigan Area 36.

Ryan guided the cross country team to its second straight NCAA Championship appearance and coached Kameron Burmeister to NMU’s first All-American finish since 2005. The Wildcats also took second at the GLIAC Cross Country Championship, their highest finish since 2005.

Ryan’s track team placed fifth at both the GLIAC Indoor Championship and GLIAC Outdoor Championship, its best finishes since 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Five cross country runners were named to all-GLIAC while six track and field athletes and a relay team combined to capture nine medals at the two conference championship meets. Six track and field athletes went on to compete at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships, with three earning All-American awards.

Each team named its most valuable player, top newcomer, most improved athlete, top scholar-athlete and recognized an athlete for community service.

Here are those honorees:

Cross country — MVP, Kameron Burmeister; newcomer, Alexis Smith; most improved, Abby Fifarek; scholar-athlete, Maddy Walters; community service, Shayla Huebner

Football — MVP, offense, Jake Mayon; MVP, defense, Darryl Williams; newcomer, offense, Walter Jackson; newcomer, defense, Kainon Clark; most improved, offense, Paris Woods; most improved, defense, James Brown; scholar-athlete, Josh Alanskas; community service, Aaron Rochow

Hockey — MVP, Dominik Shine; newcomer, Darien Craighead; most improved, Troy Loggins; scholar-athlete, Zach Diamantoni; community service, Philip Beaulieu

Lacrosse — MVP, Shelby Klotz; newcomer, Graison Ringlever; most improved, Cassandra Marshall; scholar-athlete, Megan Palacio; community service, Angelica Bogden

Volleyball — MVP, Bridget Bussell; newcomer: Rachel Braunschweig; most improved, Megan Crane; scholar-athlete, Braunschweig; community service, Jami Hogeboom

Track and field — MVP, Samanthia Johnson; newcomer, Sydney McPeters; most improved, Kieren Becker; scholar-athlete, Shayla Huebner; community service, Becker

Men’s basketball — MVP, Naba Echols; newcomer, Sam Taylor; most improved, Isaiah Johnson; scholar-athlete, Brett Branstrom; community service, Branstrom

Women’s basketball — MVP, Bre Gaspervich; newcomer, Erin Honkala; most improved, Sydney Dillinger; scholar-athlete, Dillinger; community service: Chloe Tompkins

Men’s golf — MVP, Austin Elsner; newcomer, Chris Black; most improved, Dustin Dishaw; scholar-athlete, Martin Eliasson; community service, Hunter Mires

Women’s golf — MVP, Haley Hewer; newcomer, Caro Els; most improved, Alyce Krumm; scholar-athlete, Avery Rochester; community service, Krumm

Men’s Nordic skiing — MVP, Adam Martin; newcomer, Zak Ketterson; most improved, Krystof Kopal; scholar-athlete, Martin; community service, Ian Torchia

Women’s Nordic skiing — MVP, Vivian Hett; newcomer, Anikken Gjerde-Alnaes; most improved, Nicole Schneider; scholar-athlete, Sarah Bezdicek; community service, Kristen Bourne

Men’s soccer — MVP, Kevin Hoof; newcomer, Sveinn Karlsson; scholar-athlete, Ben Hoffman; community service, Carson Burmeister

Women’s soccer — MVP, Allyssa Milam; newcomer, Ashleigh Hansen; most improved, Anna Worman; scholar-athlete, Madison Hamilla; community service, Abigail Cook

Women’s swimming and diving — MVP, Rachel Helm; newcomer, Isabelle Tavares; most improved, Sara Foucault; scholar-athlete, Jamie Kimble; community service, Jamie Kimble

Men’s swimming and diving — MVP, Lajos Budai; newcomer, Jonas Reinhold; most improved, David Miranda; scholar-athlete, Nathan Rotundo; community service, Baris Kancoglu

Weightlifting — MVP, Taylor Turner; newcomer, Kenny Wilkins; most improved, Jonas Hagen; scholar-athlete, Thomas Felstead; community service, Ryan Borges

Wrestling — MVP, Alejandro Sancho; newcomer, Jordan Auen; most improved, Jesse Porter; scholar-athlete, Brandon Marshall; community service, Austin Morrow

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.