Top Wildcat Student-Athletes Recognized During Honors Banquet

Top Wildcat Student-Athletes Recognized During Honors Banquet
Courtesy of Wayne State Athletics

WAYNE – With the spring sports season winding down, several Wayne State College student-athletes were recognized for their work on the field and off.

The annual Ameritas Athletic Honors Banquet took place in the WSC Student Center where six major awards and Most Valuable Player honors for each sport were handed out Monday evening.

Senior men’s basketball player Kendall Jacks was voted Male Athlete of the Year while sophomore volleyball player Jaci Brahmer was selected Female Athlete of the Year. Freshman Athlete of the Year honors went to Jordan Janssen from men’s basketball and Mikayla Marvin in women’s track and field while seniors Vance Janssen (men’s basketball) and Christina Stasi (soccer) were presented the Bob Cunningham Scholar Athlete Awards as the top male and female student athletes.

Kendall Jacks, a 6-4 senior forward from Bettendorf, Iowa (Bettendorf HS), was a First Team All-NSIC selection this season after averaging 16.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He helped the Wildcats to a 21-10 record this season and a share of the NSIC South Division regular season title. It was Wayne State’s first 20-win season since 1999-2000. Jacks finished his Wildcat basketball career ranked second in all-time scoring with 1,626 points and he is Wayne State’s all-time leading scorer in NSIC games with 1,220 points.

Jaci Brahmer, a 6-1 sophomore middle blocker from Pierce (Pierce HS), led the NSIC in blocks this season at 1.16 per set and earned Second Team All-NSIC honors for a second straight season. She helped the Wildcats to a 22-9 record, the 14th time in the last 15 years WSC has recorded a 20-win season. Brahmer also averaged 2.29 kills per set and led the Wildcats in attack percentage for a second straight season hitting .307.

Jordan Janssen, a 6-7 freshman forward from Lincoln (East HS), was named the Male Freshman Athlete of the Year after averaging 11.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game this season for the 21-10 Wildcats. He had 10 double-doubles this season, the most by a Wildcat player since David Allen’s 11 in the 1992-93 season. Janssen led the NSIC in offensive rebounds per game this season (3.2) and was second in overall rebounding, tied for fourth in field goal percentage (.578), ninth in blocked shots (1.1) and free throw percentage (.825) and tied for ninth in steals (1.2).

Mikayla Marvin, a freshman from O’Neill (O’Neill HS), received the Female Freshman Athlete of the Year Award after winning the pole vault at the NSIC Indoor Championships with a new school record of 11’ 7 ¾”. She broke the school record five times during the indoor season and in the outdoor season has already broke the pole vault record twice and ranks second in the NSIC with a current mark of 11’ 9 ¾”.

Vance Janssen, a senior men’s basketball player from Blair, was awarded the Bob Cunningham Male Scholar Athlete of the Year Award maintaining a 3.719 grade point average majoring in pre-pharmacy. This season, Vance averaged 12.1 points per game and ranked second in the NSIC in steals per game at 1.5 helping the Wildcats to a 21-10 record and a share of the NSIC South Division regular season title. Janssen started all but one game in his four years at Wayne State and ended 19th in career scoring (1,153 points), second in career steals (165) and fifth in assists (289). He was awarded the Butch Raymond Scholarship by Sanford Health this year and has been accepted into pharmacy school at Nebraska Medical Center.

Christina Stasi, a senior women’s soccer player from Omaha (Millard North HS), received the Bob Cunningham Female Scholar Athlete of the Year Award after carrying a 4.00 grade point average majoring in sociology and psychology. This season, Stasi earned Second Team All-NSIC honors after leading the Wildcats in scoring for a second straight season with 10 points on four goals and two assists and earned All-Conference honors three of her four years at WSC. In the classroom, Stasi became the first-ever Academic All-American in program history this year after being named Google Cloud Third Team Academic All-American with her 4.00 grade point average. Stasi will graduate from Wayne State in May and has accepted a job in Omaha along with pursuing graduate school at the same time.

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