APPLETON, Wis. -- Maya Alberts and Jackson Bertman captured the Athlete of the Year awards at the annual BluCrew Awards on Friday evening. 
    Alberts (Madison, Wis./Edgewood) won Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year and led her team to the Midwest Conference regular season and tournament championships. A senior defender, Alberts was the first Viking to win Defensive Player of the Year since the award was established in 2004. Anchoring the defense from her center back position, Alberts was key to the Vikings allowing only four goals in Midwest Conference play for an average of 0.50 per game.
    Alberts also was a force on offense as she finished second in the conference with six goals, an average of 0.75 per game. Alberts was sixth in the league in points with 12, an average of 1.50 per contest. Alberts, who won Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week three times during the season, finished with eight goals and one assist for 17 points on the season. 
    Bertman (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison) earned his third consecutive Midwest Conference Diver of the Year award in 2025. Bertman swept the diving titles at the Midwest Conference Championships and broke both school records in the process. 
    Bertman was a runaway winner on the 3-meter board with a score of 494.25, nearly 53 points better than the second-place finisher. Bertman, who recorded an NCAA "B" cut, shattered the Lawrence record of 422.60 set by Jeff Brown in 2006. Bertman posted a school-record score of 471.70 to win the 1-meter title for the third consecutive year. He broke his own school record of 442.90.

Male Comeback Athlete of the Year
    Jacob Stanley (Harvard, Ill./Harvard Community), a senior defensive back on the football team, returned from injury to have a fine final season with the Vikings. Stanley recorded 44 tackles, including three tackles for loss, and nabbed one interception.
Female Comeback Athlete of the Year
    Lydia Lueck (Long Grove, Ill./Stevenson), a senior basketball/lacrosse player, returned from injury and was a key contributor on a Midwest Conference runner-up basketball team while emerging as a standout during the first season of women's lacrosse. Lueck helped the women's basketball team take second in the Midwest Conference and play in the league tournament for the second consecutive year. She also earned honorable mention on the All-Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference team after leading the women's lacrosse team with 32 goals while picking up three assists for a team-best 35 points.
Coach of the Year
    Fencing coach Eric Momberg received a pair of coaching honors after the season. He was chosen as United States Fencing Coaches Association Division III Men's Team Coach of the Year and was selected as Central Collegiate Fencing Conference Men's Team Coach of the Year. The Vikings finished third at the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference Championships, had 12 fencers named to the all-conference team and qualified 12 fencers for the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Male Breakthrough Athlete of the Year
    Nolan Mahaffey (Grove City, Pa.), a sophomore goaltender on the hockey team, took over as the Vikings' starter in net for 2024-25. Mahaffey put together a 7-14-2 record with one shutout. He compiled a .911 save percentage with a 2.69 goals against average. Those both rank as the fourth-best save percentage and GAA in school history.
Female Breakthrough Athlete of the Year
    Zoe Doherty (Algonquin, Ill./Huntley), a junior third baseman for the softball team, grabbed the first postseason honors of her career while leading Lawrence to a spot in the Midwest Conference Tournament for the first time in a decade. Doherty, a first-team All-Midwest Conference selection and an All-Region IX pick, hit .431 with eight doubles, four triples, five home runs, 33 runs batted in and a school-record 43 runs scored. With a spectacular .597 on-base percentage and .735 slugging percentage, Doherty was able to post an impressive 1.332 OPS for the season.
Male Rookie Athlete of the Year
    Jahlan Paul (North Lauderdale, Fla. Westminster), a cornerback on the football team, earned All-Midwest Conference, D3football.com All-Region 5 and D3 Football All-Freshman honors. He also led all of NCAA Division III in interceptions per game (0.7) and passes defensed (2.0) per game. Paul finished the season with seven interceptions and 13 pass breakups in 10 games. 
Female Rookie Athlete of the Year
    Margaret Hahnke (Appleton, Wis./North), an outside hitter on the volleyball team, had a fine first season and was Midwest Conference Newcomer of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection. Hahnke finished the season with 406 kills, which ranks fourth in Lawrence history. Her 4.01 kills per set also ranks fourth in school history. Hahnke broke the Lawrence match record when she posted 34 kills against Rockford University. Hahnke also served up 63 aces and picked up 271 digs.
Best Individual Play/Performance
    Erica Grube (Fredonia, Wis./Random Lake), a junior midfielder on the women's soccer team, earned the honor with her goal in the Midwest Conference Tournament Championship Game. Grube's bending ball from 20-plus yards out found the corner of the net in the 23rd minute to give Lawrence a 1-0 lead over Lake Forest College, and the Vikings would go on to a 2-1 overtime victory.
Best Lawrence Win
    Women's soccer earns the honor with its 2-1 victory over Lake Forest in the Midwest Conference Tournament Championship Game. Erica Grube scored in the 23rd minute to give Lawrence a 1-0 lead, but Lake Forest would come back to tie it. Izzy Robertson's goal in the 99th minute gave Lawrence a 2-1 overtime victory and a spot in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Viking Award
    Taylor Svoboda (Mullen, Neb./Mullen) captured the award that exemplifies the spirit of Lawrence athletics. In addition to being a key member of the women's basketball team, Svoboda has been very active in the Department of Athletics and the campus community. Svoboda has dedicated countless hours to community service projects while playing a big role in the social media accounts of the Lawrence athletics.
Male Viking Career Award
    Taylor Freeman (Missouri City, Texas/Houston Christian), a senior second baseman on the baseball team, capped his career by receiving All-America honors from D3baseball.com. The 2025 Midwest Conference Position Player of the Year, Freeman also earned All-Region 9 honors for the second time his career. Freeman hit .439 for the season, and that ranks 16th in all of NCAA Division III. He collected nine doubles, one triple, 14 home runs and 48 runs batted in. He also scored 58 runs and swiped a school-record 35 bases. Freeman ranks 10th in the nation at 0.90 stolen bases per game. He is 11th at 1.49 runs scored per game and 20th at 0.36 homers per game. Freeman is all over the Lawrence record book as he ranks 15th with a career .349 batting average and is fourth with a .646 slugging percentage. Freeman ranks first with 51 doubles, second with 41 homers and second with 163 RBIs. He is the career leader with 177 runs scored and first with 83 stolen bases.
Female Viking Career Award
    Cristyn Oliver (Redondo Beach, Calif./Bishop Montgomery) put together a record-setting career in cross country and track and field. The only female in Midwest Conference history to win three individual cross country titles, Oliver led Lawrence to championships in 2021 and 2024. She is one of just seven cross country runners in conference history to be a four-time all-conference honoree. A two-time All-North Region honoree in cross country, she is a two-time USTFCCCA All-Academic selection. A 10-time Midwest Conference champion, Oliver has received all-conference honors a total of 20 times. She broke school records 13 times and owns the fastest 6,000-meter time in Lawrence history at 21:38 and also holds track records in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters indoors and the 5,000 meters outdoors.
Senior Leadership Award
    Mattigan Haller (Eau Claire, Wis./North) and Andrew Larson (Wauwatosa, Wis./Milwaukee Pius XI) were honored with the women's and men's award, respectively. Haller is a four-time All-Midwest Conference selection, College Sports Communicators Academic All-District pick and a triple major. Larson also is a multi-time All-Midwest Conference selection and earned Academic All-District honors from the College Sports Communicators. He is an economics major with a minor in data science.
Elite Viking Award
    This award recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the post-season experience of competition while also achieving the highest cumulative grade point average on their team. To be eligible for the award, the student-athlete must be at least a sophomore.
Baseball: Max Huddleston  
Women's basketball: Tahlia Moe
Men's cross country: Elek Anderson
Women's cross country: Jane Partsch
Men's fencing: Eli Freyre de Andrade
Women's fencing: Sophia Kelley
Men's hockey: Carter Cloutier
Women's hockey: Elsie Salerno
Women's soccer: Natalie Linebarger
Softball: Kylan Arndt
Men's swimming and diving: Keegan Mencke
Women's swimming and diving: Stella Macfarlane
Women's tennis: Maddie Bublik
Men's track and field: Tristan Zook
Women's track and field: Irene Yank