June 25, 2010

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - Utah Valley's Jace Brinkerhoff has been selected the Great West Conference men's Student-Athlete of the Month for May, while UVU's Mary Nothum and North Dakota's Casie Hanson share the women's award.

Brinkerhoff, the GWC's Player of the Year, batted .500 (49-for-98), with a .580 on-base percentage, four home runs, nine doubles and 39 RBI while slugging .735 during May. The senior from Spanish Fork, Utah, led the Wolverines to a 20-3 record during the month, capped by the GWC regular season championship with a 26-2 league record and helped UVU to the GWC Tournament championship while setting a school-record with 42 wins (42-17 overall). Brinkerhoff finished the season with a nation-leading .456 batting average, tied with New Mexico senior Justin Howard. The third baseman earned third team All-America from two publications - Louisville Slugger and PING! Baseball. He had five games with at least four hits in the month and twice had five hits in a game including six RBI and five runs scored in a win at Houston Baptist which led to GWC Player of the Week honors on May 24. Nothum and Hanson share the women's honor after each received top awards during GWC championships in May.

Nothum was named the GWC Female Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year after winning all three distance events--the 5000m run (17:18.14), the 10,000m run (35:30.25), and the 3000m steeplechase (10:41.90)--at the GWC Championships in May, as well as helping her team repeat as conference champs. She also placed fourth in the 1500m run at the conference meet and was one of UVU's first track athletes in school history to qualify for an NCAA meet as she qualified for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field West Regional in the 10,000m run, with a qualifying time of 34:40.21 at the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays, and the 3000m steeplechase (10:41.90), at the GWC Outdoor Championships. The junior from Washington, Mo., was UVU's top distance runner all year long and shattered the school record in the 5000m run during the month at the Oxy Invitational in Los Angeles with 16:46.28.

Hanson led North Dakota to its first softball conference championship in school history by hitting .611 at the Great West Conference Tournament. In 18 at bats, she had two home runs, one double and 11 singles. The senior centerfielder from St. Peter, Minn., added one walk while striking out only once. Hanson went 2-for-2 in stolen-base attempts with a perfect fielding percentage in May. She was named GWC Player of the Year and GWC Tournament MVP while earning her third straight CoSIDA ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America honor.

Others nominated for student-athlete of the month were Chicago State's Daniel Fleming (Track & Field) and Golda Rubina (Tennis), Houston Baptist's Maximo Mendoza (Track & Field) and Cindee Wright (Track & Field), NJIT's Christian Baumbach (Track & Field), North Dakota's Brandon Quesenberry (Track & Field), Northern Colorado's Joe Sawicki (Baseball), South Dakota's Dominic Artis (Track & Field) and Rachel Fricke (Softball) and Texas-Pan American's Vincent Mejia (Baseball) and Wendy Wells (Track & Field).