Videos: Introduction | Oustanding Male | Outstanding Female
Scholar Athletes  Team of Year | Cardinal Inspiration Award

WINONA, Minn. — The 2020-21 season was one to remember — for a lot of reasons — and while COVID-19 made things just a bit more challenging, Luke Gilbertson (Windom, Minn.) and Anna Swanson (Osceola, Wis.) certainly made the most of their athletic opportunities.
 
Gilbertson was a main cog in the Cardinal baseball machine that captured its first-ever MIAC Playoff title and earned its first NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in 28 years, while Swanson took the track and field world by storm, earning All-American honors with her second-place showing in the javelin at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
 
And Sunday evening, the duo were rewarded for their efforts during the 2020-21 season, as Gilbertson was named Saint Mary's Outstanding Male Athlete and Swanson was selected Outstanding Female Athlete as part of Saint Mary's athletic department's Virtual Best of the Nest awards ceremony.
 
Gilbertson and Swanson weren't the only Cardinal student-athletes recognized during the virtual evening of celebration, either.
 
Dual-sport athlete Hallie Schmeling (Onalaska, Wis.) of the women's basketball and softball teams, and men's soccer standout Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.) were named Outstanding Female and Male Scholar Athletes, respectively, while the Cardinal baseball team took home Team of the Year honors.
 
The inaugural Cardinal Inspiration Award — presented to an individual who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in an effort to further the successes of Cardinal athletics — was also present Sunday evening. The first recipient of the award was head athletic trainer Jill Collum.
 
Here's a look at all the Best of the Nest award winners:
 
LUKE GILBERTSON — OUTSTANDING MALE ATHLETE
The Cardinal baseball team rode Gilbertson's right arm to an MIAC Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA national tournament. The junior pitcher — an All-MIAC First-Team selection — was unbeaten in 2021, going 7-0 with a 3.38 earned-run-average. He owned three of the team's six complete games, and tossed his first career shutout against Macalester on April 22.
 
ANNA SWANSON — OUTSTANDING FEMALE ATHLETE
Swanson had a year to remember in 2021, being crowned MIAC champion in the javelin, while also earning her first collegiate All-American honors at the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships, placing second in the javelin. Swanson's school-record toss of 46.65 meters was the top throw of the championships, until the very last throw of the competition. Her second-place finish is the highest in program history — male or female.
 
HALLIE SCHMELING — OUTSTANDING FEMALE SCHOLAR ATHLETE
An Elementary Education major with a 3.98 GPA, Schmeling is a repeat winner of the award, having also earned in the honor in 2019-20. Schmeling was a standout on both the court and in the field for the Cardinals, averaging 4.6 points-per-game and recording nine assists in five games during the pandemic-shortened basketball season, while hitting .260 with seven doubles and 13 RBIs in 30 fastpitch softball games.
 
ELI SZYMANSKI — OUTSTANDING MALE SCHOLAR ATHLETE
A Biology major, Szymanski carries a perfect 4.0 GPA and was one of the men's soccer team's offensive leaders during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. Szymanski scored once and added an assist for three points and led the Cardinals with 16 shots attempted in five games.
 
CARDINAL BASEBALL — TEAM OF THE YEAR
The Cardinals put together a year to remember in 2021, posting a program-record 30 wins, while capturing the MIAC Tournament title for the first time in the program's storied history, and earning Saint Mary's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 28 years.
 
JILL COLLUM — CARDINAL INSPIRATION AWARD
The COVID-19 pandemic certainly threw a monkey wrench into Collum's duties as the Cardinals' head athletic trainer. Along with her day-to-day athletic training responsibilities, Collum also served on the campus COVID committee, was involved in contact tracing, coordinated testing for student-athletes to allow for continuation of competition, worked with the team physician to establish safe protocols for returning athletes to activity after COVID infections, and served as the department's Senior Athletic Administrator.