Earlier tonight, Briar Cliff University hosted its annual Champions of Character banquet, a celebration of sport, scholastic achievement and character. Over 350 student-athletes gathered in the university's St. Francis Center to collectively look back upon the 2015-16 academic year and to recognize successes. Several awards were handed out throughout the evening including the male and female athlete of the year awards, the male and female scholar-athlete of the year awards, the male and female champion of character awards and the university's Most Inspirational Athlete of the Year Award.
The athlete of the year awards were handed out to student-athletes whose success in sport made them shining ambassadors for Briar Cliff, athletes who raised the bar, captured the attention of the community and made Charger Nation proud to bleed Blue & Gold. The recipient of this year's female athlete of the year award was Jessi Corrick. This past season, the All-American led the women's basketball team to a 23-10 overall record and another appearance at the national tournament as she averaged a team-high 14.6 ppg. The first team all-league choice also produced team-highs in assists with 146 and steals with 73. The Esko, Minnesota native finished her career with 1,061 points in only three seasons at BCU. For the first time in banquet history, there were co male athletes of the year with Clay Harreld and Robert Iron Shell both being deemed worthy of the honor. Harreld was named the team MVP of a Charger squad that set the record for most wins in a season, going 32-4, while Harreld led the Cliff with 17.5 ppg. He did plenty of damage from long range, setting the record for most threes in a season with 142 and also rewrote the record book for career threes with 358. The Williams, Iowa native was a first team all-conference selection and also grabbed honorable mention All-American status. Harreld was second in the NAIA in threes per game with 3.9 and his 142 triples also ranked second in the country as he led the Chargers to GPAC regular season and tournament titles and helped BCU advance to the NAIA Elite 8 and represented BC in the NAIA three-point shootout. Iron Shell has also had plenty of success over the past year, winning awards at the local and national level. Earlier this season, Iron Shell was named the GPAC Athlete of the Week in back-to-back weeks, was the NAIA Athlete of the Week and was also named the Most Outstanding Athlete at the Sioux City Relays. He has already automatically qualified for nationals in the 100, 200 and 400, a program first, and those accolades earned him a spot in the latest edition of Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd. He helped the Chargers finish third in the last two GPAC Outdoor Championships, the highest finish by BCU, and he has also been named All-GPAC six times and All-American four times in the past 12 months. His 400 at the 2016 GPAC Outdoor conference meet was voted the performance of the meet, voted on by coaches for the performance that wowed them the most.
Also honored during the evening were those student-athletes who have show dedication in the classroom as well as in the athletic arena. Conference and national scholar-athletes were recognized and two student-athletes were selected as this year's scholar-athletes of the year. This year's female recipient of the Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award was a junior soccer player from Maple Grove, Minnesota. She is a three-year member with the Blue and Gold soccer squad, with five goals in 57 career games. With a 3.97 GPA, the recipient of the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award was Mariah Morrisette. On the men's side, Ron Tortorello was honored with a 3.90 cumulative grade point average. Tortorello, a senior from Bloomingburg, New York, racked up 42 tackles last season in 11 games. He had a team-high 8.0 tackles-for-loss for 33 yards and he tied for the team lead in sacks with 4.0 for 25 yards.
Each coach had the opportunity to nominate a Champion of Character from their own program, a student-athlete which they felt upheld the five core character values embraced by the NAIA; respect, integrity, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership. Of the 18 male and female nominees a committee decided on two student-athletes who deserved the title Champion of Character. The 2016 Female Champion of Character Award went to Lexi Henschke. The senior from Pender, Nebraska, has been a four-year member of the women's basketball team and has also competed on the golf and track teams at BCU. Henschke scored 812 points in her Charger career while notching 224 steals and 211 assists. The 2016 Male Champion of Character was awarded to Mitchell Schleis. The senior from Shelby, Nebraska, competes in cross country and track for the Chargers. Schleis earned all-conference honors in cross country and both indoor and outdoor track seasons and was a two-time All-American during this year's indoor season and was also All-American during last year's outdoor season.
The Most Inspirational Athlete of the Year Award honors an athlete who inspires others with his or her performance and/or actions, perhaps by overcoming adversity, injury or heartbreak. The recipient of the 2016 Most Inspirational Athlete of the Year never ran cross country before doing so at Briar Cliff and now owns the second fastest time in school history. The class D high school athlete also blossomed on the track at BC, producing three indoor school records and six outdoor school records. He is already a four-time All-American. He led his teammates by example and is constantly a role model for underclassman to look up to. The 2016 Most Inspirational Athlete was Mitchell Schleis.
The evening also involved speeches by a few Charger student-athletes and recognition of record-breaking performances and those members of the Blue and Gold who received conference and national accolades throughout the year, including national qualifiers, all-Americans and national champions.
