WINONA, Minn. — Neither one wears No. 2, but when it comes to this year's Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Outstanding Male and Female Athletes, the number two seems to be rather significant.
Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) took the baseball world by storm as a freshman in 2013-14—and was named Saint Mary's Outstanding Male Athlete for his efforts.
The Cardinal outfielder was even better as a sophomore—and Friday evening he was once again rewarded for those efforts with a second straight Saint Mary's Outstanding Male Athlete honor.
A two-sport standout,
Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) made her presence felt both on the volleyball court and the hockey rink, helping both Cardinal squads reach the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs—and earn Saint Mary's Outstanding Female Athlete award in the process.
Sticking with the No. 2 theme,
Aaron Haley (Plainview, Minn.) and
Katie Stolz (Forest Lake, Minn.), meanwhile, were named Saint Mary's Outstanding Male and Female Scholar Athletes—for the second year in a row.
Friday's festivities also included the induction of three new members into the Saint Mary's Sports Hall of Fame, as the Cardinal 'M' Club, in association with the Saint Mary's Alumni Office, welcomed the Class of 2015—Missie Meemken '03 (women's hockey), Missy (Westergren '02) Kuntz (women's hockey), and Corby Manes '95 (men's hockey) | Hall Release
The MIAC Rookie of the Year as a freshman, Buerkle took his game to another level in 2015, being named ABCA/Rawlings and D3baseball.com All-American—not to mention Capital One Academic All-American—while also garnering First-Team All-Region honors from both ABCA/Rawlings and D3baseball.com, and being named First-Team All-MIAC. Buerkle proved to be opposing pitchers' worst nightmare in 2015, leading the team in batting average (.462), runs (46), hits (61), doubles (11), triples (4), home runs (7), total bases (101), RBIs (47), slugging percentage (.765), and on-base percentage (.517). Buerkle—whose 46 runs and 47 RBIs are single-season school records—has had at least one hit in 71 of the 76 games he's played in his two-year collegiate career, and has been held off the base paths just twice in 76 career contests.
Fadness has proven to be a real thorn in opponents' sides—in two sports. One of the top "shut down" defensemen in the MIAC, Fadness—who closed out the year with three goals and two assists—earned her third straight All-MIAC honor after helping the Cardinal women's hockey team to the conference playoffs for the first time in five seasons. And that was the second post-season appearance of the year for Fadness, who was equally as dominant on the volleyball court, posting a team- and career-high 261 kills and helping the Cardinals reach the semifinals of the conference tournament.
An Accounting/Finance major with a 3.94 grade-point-average, Haley finished his collegiate career as one of the Cardinals top runners—both on the cross country trails and on the track, earning honorable-mention All-MIAC, First-Team All-MIAC and All-Region honors during his illustrious career.
A Biology major with a 4.00 GPA, Stolz broke her own six-kilometer school record in the 6K at the 2014 NCAA Regional, stopping the clock in 22.51—nearly 30 seconds faster than her previous mark, set at the 2013 Central Regional—en route to a 35th-place finish and her second straight all-region performance. Stolz, who has earned First-Team All-MIAC honors in both cross country and track and field during her four-year collegiate career—not to mention the 2013 MIAC Elite 22 Award—Stolz remains the school record-holder in the 6K (cross country), indoor 5,000, and outdoor steeplechase.
