A Recap of the 2025 Bulldog Awards

The University of Minnesota Duluth Athletic Department held its third annual Bulldog Awards Wednesday night inside the Marshall Performing Art Center on campus, with around 450 Bulldog student athletes in attendance and local community members in attendance.

Tue, Apr 29, 2025

The University of Minnesota Duluth Athletic Department held its third annual Bulldog Awards Wednesday night inside the Marshall Performing Art Center on campus, with around 450 Bulldog student athletes in attendance and local community members in attendance.

A total of 27 awards were awarded to student athletes and community members, and the event was emceed by UMD Communication Instructor Trista Vucetcih Anderson.

Chancellor's Cup -- Women's Cross Country Team

The 2024-25 Chancellor's Cup was awarded to the women's cross country team, who had a cumulative GPA of 3.73 in the past two completed semesters (spring of 2024 and fall of 2024). Other top teams in the running for this year's Chancellor Cup award were volleyball with a 3.60 GPA, women's track & field with a 3.57 and tennis with a 3.58 GPA, and our top men's team — men's cross country with a 3.54 GPA.

Female Newcomer of the Year – Caitlin Kraemer – Women's Hockey

Kramer was named the HCA 2025 Julie Chue Rookie of the Year, USCHO Rookie of the Year and the WCHA Rookie of the Year. Also named to the All-USCHO Rookie Team and the All-WCHA Rookie Team, Kraemer was three-times WCHA Rookie of the Month and four-time WCHA Rookie of the Week. She led all freshmen nationally with 18 goals and two shorthanded tallies -- both rookie-highs in the NCAA, and was second with seven power play goals and four game-winning goals, and had 13 assists to pair with her 18 goals for 31 points and posted two or more points eight times.

Male Newcomer of the Year – Max Plante – Men's Hockey

Plante was a NCHC Rookie of the Year Finalist, and was named to the 2024-25 NCHC All-Rookie Team. Two-times the NCHC Rookie of the Week, Plante led all NCHC rookies with 21 points in conference play, despite only playing 20 NCHC games. Plante posted nine goals and added 19 assists for 28 points and a 1.21 points per game average, and recorded nine games with two or more points in a game. He also earned a gold medal with the US National Junior Team mid-season.

Female Individual Performance of the Year – Grace Counts – Women's Basketball

Counts set a new career high of 31 points in a single against Bemidji State on Feb. 22, helping UMD secure an opening round spot in the NSIC playoffs. Her 31 point performance was the most points by a single player in any game all season for the Bulldogs.

Male Individual Performance of the Year – Kyle Walljasper – Football

Walljasper had 420 offensive yards (236 rushing, 184 passing) for 30 points during a victory against Winona State on Nov 2nd on the road. Walljasper's 236 rushing yards and his five rushing TDs were both career bests. For his outstanding performance, he was named both the D2Football.com's Offensive Player of the Week, as well as the NSIC's Offensive Player of the Week.

Female Breakthrough Athlete of the Year – Franny Seidel – Women's Track and Field

Seidel is the first individual Bulldog to compete in the NCAA Cross Country Championships since in 2010. She qualified for the NCAA Championships individually for the first time of her career after her 12th individual place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Regional Meet with a time of 21:29 over 6,000m. Franny's National performance time of 22:02.9 was good for 86th in the nation. This is an improvement of 115 places from her nationals race two years ago where she ran a time of 23:17.4.

Male Breakthrough Athlete of the Year – Nate Rosenberg – Baseball

Rosenberg has led the Bulldogs from the plate this season, topping the stat sheet with 88 total bases, 40 runs, 8 home runs, 3 triples, and a .638 slugging percentage. With a .370 batting average this season, Rosenberg has been instrumental in the success of Bulldog baseball, which includes a three run walk off home run to secure an 8-6 victory over Augustana University on March 27.

Maroon and Gold Award – Will Francis – Men's Hockey

The Maroon & Gold Award is given to a student-athlete who has faced adversity and made a comeback. This year's honoree was also a recipient of this award back in 2023. Francis is a three-time cancer survivor who was first diagnosed with leukemia in March of 2020. He played in 37 games with the men's hockey team from 2021-2025, and underwent treatment for the entire 2022-23 season and most of the 2024-25 season. Francis recently completed his UMD career and made his professional hockey debut with the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League.

Shjon Podein Award – Clara Van Wieren – Women's Hockey

This award is given to student-athletes who have shown exceptional commitment to community.

This year's Shjon Podein Award winner Van Wieren was named a finalist for the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, an award that honors athletes who embody the highest standards of character, teamwork, and citizenship. A 2024-25 Hockey Humanitarian nominee, Clara embodies being a devoted member of the community and the value of serving others. Clara served as the women's hockey team's volunteer coordinator this year, which entailed organizing an inaugural week-long team volunteer event, and resulted in over 160 hours of community service at various local nonprofit organizations, including: Chum, 7 Star Ranch leadership program for veterans, youth, and first responders; the Duluth Children's Museum renovation project, and; Park Point Beach clean-up and restoration work, as well as coordinating coaching opportunities for players to connect with greater-Duluth area youth hockey teams and special needs hockey programs. Clara also helped with the Student-Athlete Advisory Council's Food Forward partnership and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council's clothing drive to benefit kids at local schools.

The Champ Award – Owen Leach – Men's Basketball

A new award for this year, this honor is given to a student-athlete for a selfless act of courage, compassion and integrity. In October, Leach became the second UMD student-athlete in less than a year to find out he was a match for a cancer patient. On January 14 in Phoenix, Arizona – and in the middle of his basketball season – Leach selflessly donated stem cells to save a 67-year old terminal cancer patient. With Leach's cells, the patient now has a 80-90% chance of recovering fully.

Team Impact Award - Women's Hockey

This award goes to the team that accrues the highest average number of community service hours per team member logged in Helper Helper. From volunteering at local elementary schools, Mentor North, Food Forward meal prep, mental health awareness work, and many other important community engagement activities. Women's hockey averaged 29 hours per team member, volunteering at a variety of places such as Ruby's Pantry, the Little Wild, 7 Stars ranch and many other community and campus events.

Men's Outstanding Moment of the Year – Men's Basketball vs. Minnesota State

Men's Basketball's buzzer beater victory against Minnesota State University, Mankato provided quite the highlight reel this season for one of the most exciting home victories of the year. With 4.8 seconds left on the clock, the Bulldogs were able to clear the defensive rebound and make it all the way down court for Mattie Thompson to hit the buzzer beater dunk and defeat the Mavericks 75-74 in their annual White Out game at Romano Gym.

Women's Outstanding Moment of the Year – Women's Hockey Comeback vs. St. Cloud State

The women's hockey team completed an incredible comeback two minutes left in the third period on Feb. 28 in game one of the WCHA First Round showdown between the UMD and St. Cloud State University, it appeared the Huskies were going to pull off a 2-1 upset win over UMD. But the Bulldogs had other ideas, and clawed back to strike a 3-2 upset rejection blow to St. Cloud Staet behind a goal from Caitlin Kraemer in the slot with 1:53 left in regulation, followed by a stunning game-winner from Olivia Wallin with just five seconds left to secure a 3-2 win and open the playoff series 1-0.

Male Athlete of the Year – Aiden Williams – Football

Williams – who just Saturday night signed a free agent contract with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers – was a 2024 AFCA First Team All-American, a 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl Invitee and 2024 Don Hansen NCAA DII Honorable Mention All-American. Named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 Second Team, Aiden was also a D2CCA Football All-Super Region 4 Second Team Offense and a 2024 NSIC First Team All-Conference honoree, as well as a Gene Upshaw Division II Lineman of the Year nominee. Aiden led a line that helped average 213.7 rushing yards a game – the second most in the NSIC and the league's best total offense. Aiden was named a NSIC Second Team All-Conference selection in both 2023 and 2022.

Female Athlete of the Year – Ève Gascon – Women's Hockey

Gascon was a First Team 2024-25 CCM/AHCA Women's Division I All-American, as well as a All-USCHO First Team selection. The WCHA Goaltender of the Year, and All-WCHA First Team selection, Gascon was HCA National Goalie of the Year Finalist, and was a HCA National Goaltender of the Month for December. Gascon was also a two-time WCHA Goaltender of the Month. Three-times a WCHA Goaltender of the Week, Gascon averaged 29.8 saves a game and 12 times made 32 or more saves in a game, as well six games of 40 or more stops and four shutouts.

The Bulldog Award – Cassius Rohadfox – Men's Basketball

The purpose of this award is to recognize a student-athlete who supports fellow student-athletes and teams. This year's award winner, Cassius, has been described as a great teammate, the best human, and as having an outstanding work ethic. He fully embodies what it means to be a Bulldog, and exemplifies everything that this award stands for.

E.L Duce Rasmussen Female Scholar-Athlete Award - Clara Van Wieren, Women's Hockey and Samantha Paulsen, Volleyball

Van Wieren maintained a perfect 4.00 GPA over her entire collegiate career in the classroom. A two-time, back to back winner of the WCHA Outstanding Student Athlete of the Year Award, a multiyear CSC Academic All America, AHCA All –American Scholar, WCHA Scholar Athlete, and member of the WCHA All-Academic Team. Having garnered multiple USA Hockey National Festival invites, served as team captain for the 2024-2205 season, and finished her outstanding athletic career as the all-time games played leader, Van WIeren also reached the 100th career point milestone and became only the 16th UMD career player to reach the 50 goal mark. She is was an avid volunteer and contributor to both the UMD and Duluth community, including leadership on SAAC, UMD's DEI Council, the Food Forward Initiative, as teaching assistant, and contributed to creation of the new Bulldog Loyalty Program.

Paulsen also maintained an incredible 4.0 GPA throughout her academic career, majoring in exercise science, and is entering the University of Minnesota Doctor of Physical Therapy program this summer, earning the program's "Year-One Scholarship" which is competitively awarded to incoming students based on academic excellence, potential for high professional contributions, and enhancement of diversity components underrepresented in the physical therapy profession. A NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award winner, and a multi-year winner of D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award, Paulsen is a multi-year member of the NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence. She finished her athletic career as a member of 3 NSIC All conference teams, a NSIC Player of the Week, tied for 11th most kills in a NSIC contest, and in the Top 10 for career hitting percentage in UMD volleyball history. Paulsen was engaged in multiple UMD and community volunteer activities, including membership on the DEI Council, working as an overnight caregiver and companion for elderly individuals, as well as a Volunteer at Essentia Health's inpatient and outpatient physical therapy clinics.

E.L Duce Rasmussen Male Scholar-Athlete Award – Austin Andrews, Men's Basketball and Jack Van Kempen, Cross Country and Track and Field

Andrews excels in the classroom with a near perfect GPA in civil engineering - no small feat and will begin an accelerated master's degree in structural engineering in the fall. He is a NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award winner, and a multi-year member of the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American and All-District team, D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award, and a multi-year member of the NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence. Andrews pursued his passion for structural engineering with multiple professional summer internships, working on design projects and analysis of structures and stadiums. He finished his UMD career with the mark for 8th in All-Time in Points, 3rd in All-Time in Rebounds, and 3rd in All-Time in Field Goal Percentage at UMD. Andrews competed in multiple NCAA tournaments, named to the NABC and D2CCA First Team All-Region Team, was awarded multiple NSIC player of the week honors, NSIC First team All-Conference, as well as the NSIC Freshman of the Year Award and NSIC Player of the Year Award. He is a Member of the Engineering Honor Society, Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), reads at local elementary schools, volunteers at Feed my Starving Children, and mentors and coaches numerous young athletes in the community.

Van Kempen has a near-perfect GPA in civil engineering, and competes in cross country and as a distance specialist in indoor and outdoor track and field. A NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award winner and multi-year NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence member across his multiple sport seasons, he has been honored with the Division II Athletics Directors Association (D2ADA) Academic Achievement Award. Van Kempen was voted NSIC's Outstanding Senior of the Year award at the Cross Country Championships this past fall by the league's coaches. This award is presented to a student-athlete who participates at their institution for four years and is academically superior while making a positive contribution to their team and the University. He has established himself as one of the top distance athletes in the NSIC over the course of his five years as a Bulldog, and has multiple all-conference accolades in addition to seven podium finishes throughout his track and field career and most recently a conference championship in the 5k at the indoor track and field championships. He has also been a part of both cross country teams that finished 2nd and 3rd in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Van Kempen earned multiple NSIC First-Team All-Conference spots for his finishes in cross country and track and field and broke the 5,000m UMD school record just this past weekend. In the community, he has participated in a variety of Grandma's Marathon events that feature road racing, aid stations, among others.

Outstanding Senior Female Athlete of the Year – Nicole Schmitt – Softball

Schmitt is a three-time NSIC First Team selection, as well as a two-time CSC Academic All-District Team honoree. This season she was named NSIC Player of the Week twice and has 26 multi-hit games and 18 games with multiple RBIs. Incredibly, through the regular season, Schmitt is either first or second in all major NSIC hitting categories, including batting average (.434), home runs (18 – a UMD single season record), on-base percentage (.512), RBI (68 – another UMD single season record), and slugging percentage (.817).

Outstanding Senior Male Athlete of the Year – Charlie Katona – Men's Basketball

Katona finished the season fourth all-time in career scoring with 1,871 career points and sixth all time in career rebounds with 811. Throughout his career, Katona helped lead the Bulldogs to three NCAA tournaments, including an NCAA Central Region Championship in 2023. A three time NSIC All Conference selection and NSIC All Tournament Team selection in 2024, Katona became the first Bulldog to be named the NSIC Defensive Player of the Year since 2002 and departs UMD with 103 career wins.

Female Team of the Year – Women's Hockey

The women's hockey team made its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance this March, including its fourth-straight NCAA Regional Final after defeating Sacred Heart University in the NCAA First Round. The Bulldogs ranked third in the nation with seven shorthanded goals and had the seventh most shutouts in the NCAA (eight). UMD also ranked in the top-10 for power play goals, scoring offense and scoring defense, and finished sixth in the final national polls.

Other UMD Athletic Department honors awarded Monday night –

2025 Myles Brand Award

The Myles Brand is bestowed upon senior NSIC student-athletes who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher, are exhausting their eligibility, and are on track to graduate after the season.

UMD 2024-25 Myles Brand honorees are – Payton Addink (Volleyball), DaShaun Ames (Football), Austin Andrews (Men's Basketball), Josie Bond (Track), Tyler Collien (Football), Luke Danielski (Football), Megan Gilles (Cross Country), Olivia Honsey (Tennis), Allison Luoma (Softball), Kiley Nihart (Volleyball), Samantha Paulsen (Volleyball), Julia Rademacher (Track and Field), Lindsey Root, Savannah Schley (Track), Nicole Schmitt (Softball), Sabrina Segar (Track and Field),, Anna Tobias (Soccer), Jack Van Kempen (Cross Country and Track), and Zach Wallace (Football).

Bruce Bennett Award Servis Award – Jeff Stratioti

This is awarded to an individual who shows exceptional service and commitment to furthering the UMD Athletics mission.

Marsh Nelson Award Bulldog Award – Dr. Steve and Ann Harrington

The Marsh Nelson Bulldog Award is an annual award that recognizes leadership and support of Bulldog Athletics in the community.

Dr. Steve Castleberry Most Influential or Supportive Academic Community Member – Tracey Bolen

This award recognizes a UMD faculty or staff member who has been influential or supportive of Bulldog Athletics.

Cornerstone Award - Minnesota Coaches

An honor given to a business that has truly gone above and beyond for UMD Athletics.

Fans of the Year – Dave and Margo Zentner

The first Bulldog Hockey game that the Zentner's attended in-person, was in 1955, – this couple has supported and cheered for Bulldog student-athletes for 70 years!

To watch the Bulldog Awards again, please click here

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