Mangas Named Crossroads League Male Student-Athlete Of The Year
Mangas Named Crossroads League Male Student-Athlete Of The Year
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Seth Mikel-
Mangas Named Crossroads League Male Student-Athlete Of The YearAVON, Ohio – The Crossroads League tabbed Indiana Wesleyan men’s basketball standout and former Warsaw Tiger Kyle Mangas as its 2018-2019 Male Student-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday, after the sophomore guard played to NAIA First-Team All-American honors for the second time in as many collegiate seasons.
Mangas averaged 23.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game and shot it at a 56.5-percent clip from the field and a 42.5-percent rate from beyond the arc during the ‘18-’19 season. Mangas finished with 801 points, trailing only his 818 from 2017-2018 for the highest single-season total in IWU history.
For his efforts, Mangas was named Crossroads League Player of the Year, NAIA First-Team All-American, NAIA All-Tournament Team and First-Team All-CL for the second time in as many years on the hardwood with the Wildcats.
“Kyle is such a great example of humility,” said IWU head men’s basketball coach Greg Tonagel. “He has accomplished so much already in his young career, yet he continues to make his success about others. He is the real deal when it comes to his faith and he is able to live that out authentically. He is a great representation for the Crossroads League.”
Mangas helped lead IWU to a 30-6 mark, the CL regular season and tourney championships and a trip to the NAIA National Tournament Quarterfinals in 2018-2019 and has sparked his squad to a 61-13 record, two CL Championships and one NAIA National Champion-ship in his first two collegiate seasons.
The Crossroads League Student-Athlete of the Year award is nominated and voted on by the 10 athletic directors from the Crossroads League and announced each summer.
Spring Arbor’s Balcer Earns Fourth CL Female Athlete-Of-The-Year Honor
AVON, Ohio – Bethany Balcer added one final prestigious honor to cap her historic career on the pitch for Spring Arbor, being named the Crossroads League’s Female Athlete of the Year for a fourth-straight time.
Balcer remains the lone student-athlete to win the honor more than once, claiming it for a fourth-straight season, after scoring 31 goals during the 2018 campaign and netting 11 game-winners to go with eight assists.
Those statistics led to Balcer being named the NAIA National Player of the Year to become the NAIA’s first three-time recipient of the award. The striker also added her fourth NAIA First-Team All-American, CL Player-of-the-Year and First-Team All-CL honors following her senior campaign.
Balcer continued to impress in the classroom as well, being selected as the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-American of the Year in the NAIA for women’s soccer for the second-straight year and earning her third CoSIDA Academic All-American award in as many tries.
“It might be a long time before Spring Arbor or the Crossroads League sees another athletic talent at the level of Bethany Balcer,” stated SAU head women’s soccer coach Jason Crist. “The highest compliment I can give Bethany however, has nothing to do with her athletic ability. Bethany seeks to be known for and make known her faith first and foremost. Her athletics are simply a platform for her to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and her motivation for the development of her talents is to glorify God and make Him known. The light that shines within Bethany will always be brighter than the light that shines on her. That is what makes her so special and that is her legacy in athletics. I am humbled and proud to have been her coach and I am grateful to call her my friend.”
Throughout her career at Spring Arbor, Balcer torched her opponents for 129 goals to finish fifth all-time in NAIA history and claimed four CL Player-of-the-Year and four NAIA First-Team All-American nods. With Balcer in the lineup, SAU posted an 89-6-4 record with four CL Championships, four NAIA National Tournament Semifinals appearances and a pair of NAIA National Championships.
The Crossroads League Female Student-Athlete of the Year award is nominated and voted on by the 10 Athletic Directors from the Crossroads League and announced each summer.
Crossroads League Female
Student-Athlete of the Year Recipients
2018-2019 – Bethany Balcer, Spring Arbor (soccer)
2017-2018 – Bethany Balcer, Spring Arbor (soccer)
2016-2017 – Bethany Balcer, Spring Arbor (soccer)
2015-2016 – Bethany Balcer, Spring Arbor (soccer)
2014-2015 – Alex Berends, Taylor (cross country/track and field)
