Golden Bruisers Recognize the ‘Best of the Best’
4/21/2022 11:43:00 AM | General, "B" Association
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Coming off the best season in school history, the Big 12 and Sugar Bowl champion Baylor football team dominated the Golden Bruiser Awards Show Wednesday night as the Male Team of the Year and Team Performance of the Year, along with winning four individual awards.
Emceed by Vincent Phillips, Baylor's assistant director of undergraduate admissions campus visits, the fifth annual awards show honored the athletic department's best and brightest in a format patterned after other shows like the Oscars, Emmys and ESPYs.
Getting back to a normal routine after a 2021 show in August, this year's awards covered the athletic events from the fall and winter seasons (through basketball), and academic awards for both the fall and spring semesters.
Vice President and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades described the Baylor student-athletes as "the best of the best."
"We got a glimpse of it tonight with the four pillars: the athletic success, the academic achievement, the character formation and the spiritual growth," Rhoades said. "But, the reason why you're the best of the best is because of your care factor.
"When you think about championship culture, it starts with care factor. The way that you care about Baylor University, the way that you care about your teammates, the way that you care about the people around you, that's what sets Baylor apart. So, we value each and every one of you."
Winning the Male Team of the Year over men's basketball and men's tennis, which were both ranked in the top five, football set a program record with 12 wins (12-2) in a memorable season capped with beating Oklahoma State, 21-16, in the Big 12 Championship game and Ole Miss, 21-7, in the New Year's Day Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
"This moment here is something they can never take away," fifth-year linebacker Terrel Bernard said after the Bears' win in the Big 12 Championship game. "We worked so hard to get here, and I'm glad it's finally being seen."
Three of the heroes of that game were also recognized, with redshirt freshman quarterback Blake Shapen named Male Rookie of the Year; Jairon McVea's goal-line stop earning Play of the Year; and fifth-year senior safety Jalen Pitre picked as Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
"I want to say thank you to God first, for allowing me to be at Baylor University and blessing me with the time that I had at Baylor," Pitre said in a video acceptance. "I know He has a lot in store for me for the future. Thank you to my coaches . . . and my teammates, they were a huge reason for the success that I had, and I'm forever thankful for them."
Making just his second start in the Big 12 Championship game, Shapen completed his first 17 passes to set a Big 12 Championship and AT&T Stadium record and earned Most Outstanding Player honors, throwing for 180 yards and three touchdowns.
"This is something you dream about as a little kid growing up," Shapen said after the game. "We wouldn't be in this position without Gerry (Bohanon) and the things that he's done for this team moving forward. My job was just to replace him and try not to lose a beat."
Even after Shapen's first-half offensive performance, the game came down to Baylor's defense holding out Oklahoma State on four shots from inside the 2-yard line. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, McVea made a touchdown-saving tackle to stop running back Dezmon Jackson literally inches from the goal line to preserve the 21-16 Baylor win.
Football also received the Golden Bruiser for Team Performance of the Year for its win over Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, while junior linebacker Dillon Doyle was recognized as the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. A member of the football team leadership council and a graduate of Baylor's Leadership Institute, Doyle earned Academic All-Big 12 honors.
"Thanks for everybody who puts so much of their lives into our lives," Doyle said. "I thank God for being a Baylor Bear."
Track's Moorea Long was named the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. An Academic All-Big 12 selection, Long did a project with Children's Mercy Hospital of Kansas City that benefitted 7,000 cancer patients.
"We are lucky here at Baylor, especially in the athletic department, to have people who push us academically and help us in every single way," Long said.
A repeat winner as Team of the Year was the six-time national champion Acrobatics & Tumbling team that is seeded No. 1 for next week's NCATA Championship in Oregon.
Female Student-Athlete of the Year honors went to NaLyssa Smith, who led the women's basketball team to its 12th-consecutive Big 12 regular-season title. Becoming the fifth player in league history to win back-to-back Big 12 Player of the Year honors, Smith was taken with the No. 2 overall pick in the WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever.
Caitlin Bickle won the Golden Bruiser Spark Award for her role as the "glue" player for the women's basketball team.
"If you know me, you know that I love this university, I love this team I love every single sports team on this campus, and I can't think of another university I would rather represent," said Bickle, who is returning for an extra year of eligibility.
Ava Colberg, who started all 19 games for the soccer team and logged a team-high 1,745 minutes as a back-row defender, was named Female Rookie of the Year.
Representing the spiritual growth pillar, softball freshman Emry McDonough won the Missions Award; and volleyball's Bri Coleman won the Golden Bruiser Acts 20:24 Award.
"Just really appreciative of everyone at Baylor who has poured into me over the last four years," Coleman. Said. "Just an encouragement to you guys: sports don't last forever, so continue to press into what really matters."
In the area of character formation, the equestrian team was named the Community Champion for 100% participation and more than 20 organizations that it served.
Comeback of the Year went to the men 's basketball team, which rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to knock off No. 5 Kansas, 80-70, after a 24-point loss to the Jayhawks in Lawrence.
Sharing Academic Team Champion honors were women's cross country, soccer, baseball and men's golf. Individual Academic Champions were Mazie Larsen (cross country), Rhein Trochim (softball) and Callie Williams (volleyball) for the women and Mark Reppe (golf), Reese Sarnowski (track) and Nick Stachowiak (tennis) for the men.
In one of the night's most emotional moments, Anita Sahdiieva and Christopher Frantzen from tennis won the John Westbrook Award for Courage and Perseverance. Sahdiieva is from the war-torn country of Ukraine, while Frantzen nearly lost his life to Addison's disease.
"I just want to say that the people that are deserving of this award are my family and friends back home," Sahdiieva said. "And thank you to Baylor Athletics and my teammates and coaches for supporting me all the time."
Baylor Bear Insider
Coming off the best season in school history, the Big 12 and Sugar Bowl champion Baylor football team dominated the Golden Bruiser Awards Show Wednesday night as the Male Team of the Year and Team Performance of the Year, along with winning four individual awards.
Emceed by Vincent Phillips, Baylor's assistant director of undergraduate admissions campus visits, the fifth annual awards show honored the athletic department's best and brightest in a format patterned after other shows like the Oscars, Emmys and ESPYs.
Getting back to a normal routine after a 2021 show in August, this year's awards covered the athletic events from the fall and winter seasons (through basketball), and academic awards for both the fall and spring semesters.
Vice President and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades described the Baylor student-athletes as "the best of the best."
"We got a glimpse of it tonight with the four pillars: the athletic success, the academic achievement, the character formation and the spiritual growth," Rhoades said. "But, the reason why you're the best of the best is because of your care factor.
"When you think about championship culture, it starts with care factor. The way that you care about Baylor University, the way that you care about your teammates, the way that you care about the people around you, that's what sets Baylor apart. So, we value each and every one of you."
Winning the Male Team of the Year over men's basketball and men's tennis, which were both ranked in the top five, football set a program record with 12 wins (12-2) in a memorable season capped with beating Oklahoma State, 21-16, in the Big 12 Championship game and Ole Miss, 21-7, in the New Year's Day Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
"This moment here is something they can never take away," fifth-year linebacker Terrel Bernard said after the Bears' win in the Big 12 Championship game. "We worked so hard to get here, and I'm glad it's finally being seen."
Three of the heroes of that game were also recognized, with redshirt freshman quarterback Blake Shapen named Male Rookie of the Year; Jairon McVea's goal-line stop earning Play of the Year; and fifth-year senior safety Jalen Pitre picked as Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
"I want to say thank you to God first, for allowing me to be at Baylor University and blessing me with the time that I had at Baylor," Pitre said in a video acceptance. "I know He has a lot in store for me for the future. Thank you to my coaches . . . and my teammates, they were a huge reason for the success that I had, and I'm forever thankful for them."
Making just his second start in the Big 12 Championship game, Shapen completed his first 17 passes to set a Big 12 Championship and AT&T Stadium record and earned Most Outstanding Player honors, throwing for 180 yards and three touchdowns.
"This is something you dream about as a little kid growing up," Shapen said after the game. "We wouldn't be in this position without Gerry (Bohanon) and the things that he's done for this team moving forward. My job was just to replace him and try not to lose a beat."
Even after Shapen's first-half offensive performance, the game came down to Baylor's defense holding out Oklahoma State on four shots from inside the 2-yard line. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, McVea made a touchdown-saving tackle to stop running back Dezmon Jackson literally inches from the goal line to preserve the 21-16 Baylor win.
Football also received the Golden Bruiser for Team Performance of the Year for its win over Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, while junior linebacker Dillon Doyle was recognized as the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. A member of the football team leadership council and a graduate of Baylor's Leadership Institute, Doyle earned Academic All-Big 12 honors.
"Thanks for everybody who puts so much of their lives into our lives," Doyle said. "I thank God for being a Baylor Bear."
Track's Moorea Long was named the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. An Academic All-Big 12 selection, Long did a project with Children's Mercy Hospital of Kansas City that benefitted 7,000 cancer patients.
"We are lucky here at Baylor, especially in the athletic department, to have people who push us academically and help us in every single way," Long said.
A repeat winner as Team of the Year was the six-time national champion Acrobatics & Tumbling team that is seeded No. 1 for next week's NCATA Championship in Oregon.
Female Student-Athlete of the Year honors went to NaLyssa Smith, who led the women's basketball team to its 12th-consecutive Big 12 regular-season title. Becoming the fifth player in league history to win back-to-back Big 12 Player of the Year honors, Smith was taken with the No. 2 overall pick in the WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever.
Caitlin Bickle won the Golden Bruiser Spark Award for her role as the "glue" player for the women's basketball team.
"If you know me, you know that I love this university, I love this team I love every single sports team on this campus, and I can't think of another university I would rather represent," said Bickle, who is returning for an extra year of eligibility.
Ava Colberg, who started all 19 games for the soccer team and logged a team-high 1,745 minutes as a back-row defender, was named Female Rookie of the Year.
Representing the spiritual growth pillar, softball freshman Emry McDonough won the Missions Award; and volleyball's Bri Coleman won the Golden Bruiser Acts 20:24 Award.
"Just really appreciative of everyone at Baylor who has poured into me over the last four years," Coleman. Said. "Just an encouragement to you guys: sports don't last forever, so continue to press into what really matters."
In the area of character formation, the equestrian team was named the Community Champion for 100% participation and more than 20 organizations that it served.
Comeback of the Year went to the men 's basketball team, which rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to knock off No. 5 Kansas, 80-70, after a 24-point loss to the Jayhawks in Lawrence.
Sharing Academic Team Champion honors were women's cross country, soccer, baseball and men's golf. Individual Academic Champions were Mazie Larsen (cross country), Rhein Trochim (softball) and Callie Williams (volleyball) for the women and Mark Reppe (golf), Reese Sarnowski (track) and Nick Stachowiak (tennis) for the men.
In one of the night's most emotional moments, Anita Sahdiieva and Christopher Frantzen from tennis won the John Westbrook Award for Courage and Perseverance. Sahdiieva is from the war-torn country of Ukraine, while Frantzen nearly lost his life to Addison's disease.
"I just want to say that the people that are deserving of this award are my family and friends back home," Sahdiieva said. "And thank you to Baylor Athletics and my teammates and coaches for supporting me all the time."
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