The Western Illinois Athletics Department held its annual WESPY's on Wednesday evening at Western Hall, honoring the best in Leatherneck athletics over the past athletic year.

The event was held live with student-athletes and Western Illinois administration on hand, the first time the event has been held with live attendees since the 2019 program.

Throughout the night, the athletics department honored the best performances on the field of play and off it by student-athletes and teams from the 2021-22 season.

Below is a list of award winners and special honors presented Wednesday.

 

FEMALE ATHLETE OF YEAR

Amy Andrews

Soccer

Andrews earned Second Team All-Summit League honors after being named a Summit League Preseason Player to Watch.

She made 16 appearances (16 starts), playing 1,167 minutes, finishing with 26 points, which set a single-season program record. Andrews scored a team-record 12 goals, becoming the all-time leading goal scorer in program history with 26. She also scored two game-winners and had three games with multiple goals, averaging .75 goals and 1.63 points per game, also setting program records for the top mark in a single season.

She finished the season with 57 shots, 39 shots on goal (2.44 per game) leading the Summit League and setting two more program records.

Against Illinois State on Aug. 26, she tied the single-game program record for goals (four) and points (eight).

She twice tied the single-game program record for shots (11).

 

MALE ATHLETE OF YEAR

Ackeen Colley

Track and field

Colley set two new school record marks during the indoor season in the 800m (1:47.89) and the mile (4:08.53). During the indoor season, Colley took first place in the mile at the Hawkeye Invitational, second in the 400m at the John Gartland Invitational, sixth in the 800m at the Meyo Invitational, fifth in the 800m at the Music City Challenge and third in the 800m at the Alex Wilson Invitational. He went on to take first place in the 800m (1:48.83) at the Summit League Championships.
He also set a new Summit League Championship record in the 800m in the preliminaries (1:48.41). The two accomplishments helped him earn the Summit League Championships' most outstanding performer.

He was also named Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Season Athlete to Watch.

 

 

FEMALE FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

Maleigha Huston

Track and field; Cross country

Huston ran a 23:53.5 in the final cross country meet of season setting a personal-record in the 6K; She was named as a Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Athlete to Watch.
During the indoor season, Huston put herself in the top-10 in three separate events in school history. She sits at sixth all-time in the 800m (2:14.12), seventh in the 1000m (2:59.69), and ninth in the mile (5:01.69).
During her first collegiate indoor season, she took second in the 800m and 1000m at the Hawkeye Invitational, second in the 800m and third in the mile at the John Gartland Invitational, 21^st in the mile at the Meyo Invitational, and seventh in the mile at the Alex Wilson Invitational.

 

 

MALE FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

Nick Mitchell

Baseball

Mitchell was named Summit League Player of the Week (Apr. 1-4) after a big weekend against North Dakota State.

Mitchell opened the series with a three-hit outing, scoring three runs and stealing a base. The three-hit performance was the third three-hit game for him this season. The next day, Mitchell hit a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth that put Western Illinois up 4-1. He concluded the series with a pair of hits, two more RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base in WIU's 6-2 win over the Bison.
Mitchell ended the series batting 6-15 with a double, four RBIs, four runs scored and two stolen bases.

Mitchell currently leads the Leathernecks in batting average (.331), hits (42), RBI (19) and stolen bases (21). He is second in total bases (47), third in runs (18) and slugging percent (.370) and is among the Summit League leaders in those categories.

 

 

FEMALE BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE

Jada Thorpe

Women's basketball

Jada Thorpe made 29 appearances (29 starts) for the Leathernecks, playing an average of 29.4 minutes per game. She averaged 11.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists and ranked second in the Summit League in steals, averaging 2.0 per game.
Thorpe scored 20-plus points in five different games, including a season-high 27 against SIUE on Dec. 7. She had three games with five or more steals, including a career-high seven against Greenville on Dec. 11.

 

MALE BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE

Trenton Massner

Men's basketball

Massner was named All-Summit Second Team, All-Summit Defensive and All-Summit Newcomer. He was also two-time Summit League Player of the Week (Dec. 27 & Jan. 17) and Summit League Male Athlete of the Month (December).
Massner played every game, making 32 starts and averaging 36 minutes per contest, leading the team in all five major statistical categories (16.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.6 blocks).
He shot 43.2% from the field, 34.9% from deep and 71.1% at the line and scored a season-high 31 points against Denver on Dec. 20, finishing the game with nine rebounds, four assists, one block and three steals. He ranked fourth in the Summit League for scoring, second in assists while leading the league in steals.

 

 

FEMALE LEATHERNECK

Elizabeth Lutz

Women's basketball

Off the court, Lutz holds a 4.0 GPA as a triple major in communications, sociology and anthropology. She was Western Illinois' recipient of the 2021-22 Lincoln Academy of Illinois' Student Laureate Award. The prestigious award is presented annually to an outstanding senior of each of Illinois' four-year degree-granting institutions and honors a student's overall academic excellence and participation in extracurricular activities.

On the court, Lutz led the Summit League in steals averaging 2.2 per game. She also finished second on the team in rebounds at an average of 4.7 per game and finished the season as the team leader in minutes played. Her efforts during the season earned her a spot on the All-Defensive team.

 

MALE LEATHERNECK

Luke Duball

Men's soccer

Duball made 13 appearances (12 starts), playing 904 minutes for Western Illinois last fall.
He recorded 15 shots (seven on goal), ranking second on the team in SOG% (min. two shots on goal). He finished with two or more shots in six different games and scored his lone goal of the season against St. Thomas on Oct. 16, leveling the score in an eventual 2-1 victory.

MALE TEAM OF THE YEAR

Men's basketball

The Leatherneck men went 16-16 this past season, earning the best record and most wins for the program since the 2012-13 season.

Western Illinois went 9-5 in the nonconference, including a victory over Big 10 foe Nebraska. The Leathernecks also beat Northern Kentucky on the road at the buzzer and blew out state rival Eastern Illinois, 71-54.

In Summit League play, Western Illinois went 7-11, finishing sixth, earning the squad's best conference finish since tying for first in the 2012-13 season.

In conference, Western Illinois won at North Dakota State in overtime and on the road at Oral Roberts.

Western Illinois also qualified for a postseason tournament for the first time since the 2012-13 season, playing in The Basketball Classic at Texas-El Paso.

 

FEMALE TEAM OF THE YEAR

Women's soccer

The 2021 Western Illinois women's soccer team set a new standard for the program this past season.

The Leathernecks went 11-6-1 overall, the most wins for the team since the squad went 13-6 in 2012.

Western Illinois went 5-4 in the Summit League and ended the campaign on a four-game winning streak. The Leathernecks were tough to beat in Macomb, going 5-2 at home.

The highlight of the season was a six-match winning streak that saw the Leathernecks beat Illinois State (4-3, OT), Northern Iowa (4-3, OT), Illinois-Chicago (1-0), Valparaiso (2-1), IUPUI (4-1) and Eastern Michigan (2-1).

 

CHEERLEADER OF THE YEAR

Briaunna Davis

 

FEMALE TEAM GRADE POINT AVERAGE

Women's tennis

 

MALE TEAM GRADE POINT AVERAGE

Men's Golf

 

MALE WEIGHT ROOM ALL-STAR

Juan De La Cruz

 

FEMALE WEIGHT ROOM ALL-STAR

Georgia Rea

 

COURAGE AWARD

Hunter Mason

 

4.0 CLUB

Baseball

Jacob Armstrong

Jack Carberry

Justin Jang

Bryan Rumping

Women's Basketball

Annabelle Deets

Elizabeth Lutz

Evan Zars

 

Women's Soccer

Kelsie Barnard

Audrey Narine

 

Men's soccer

Ramy Atia

Lucas Duball

 

Tennis

Paige Grice

 

Football

Sam Barkalow

Nick Davenport

Hunter Mason

Michael McFarlane

 

Men's Track and Field

Lucas Hofer

Jack Neupert

 

Women's Track and Field

Paulina Wuestefeld