GLIAC Spring Commissioner's Award Recipients
Grand Valley State seniors
Sara Andrasik and
Gabrielle Shipley, along with junior
Chris May, were tabbed as winners of the 2016 GLIAC Spring Commissioner's Award, announced on Thursday afternoon (June 23) by the league office. The Lakers were one of two schools (along with Wayne State) to have three nominees selected in the 12-winner field.
The awards are presented after the fall, winter, and spring athletic seasons to a total of 12 GLIAC student-athletes (six male, six female) that excel in the classroom and on the fields of play. Qualified student-athletes must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average, cannot be a freshman of sophomore, and must have completed four semesters of full-time employment at the institution.
Andrasik, from Sagamore Hills, Ohio, owned a 3.99 grade point average in mathematics and recently completed her playing career with the Laker softball team. That was tied for the highest GPA of any of the Commissioner's Award winners this season. From Hastings, Mich., Shipley is the most recent GVSU athlete to win a national championship and the woman's golfer also put together a 3.63 grade point average in hospitality tourism management. A junior from Elmhurst, Ill., May is part of the Laker track & field program and tabbed a 3.71 grade point average in biomedical sciences.
The other winners of the GLIAC Commissioner's Award are Wayne State's Mackenzie Boehler (softball), Lyndsay Butler (softball), and Griffin Harms (baseball), Ashland's Ali Green (women's golf) and Brandyn Sittinger (baseball), Findlay's John Kidd (men's tennis), Hillsdale's Chris McDonald (baseball), Lake Erie's Lucas Raley (baseball), and Tiffin's Emily Roussel (lacrosse).
Andrasik helped GVSU win the Midwest Super Region championship and advance to the College World Series for the third time in school history. The righthander led the 43-13 Lakers in victories (14), saves (seven), and innings pitched (112.2), while earning a spot on the D2CCA All-Midwest Region Second Team and the All-GLIAC Second Team. Andrasik finished the season with a 14-3 record, a 2.11 ERA, five complete games, and five total shutouts in 30 appearances.
Not only did she lead the GLIAC with her seven saves, that figure was tied for fourth-most in all of Division II. She also ranked fifth in the conference in victories, sixth in individual shutouts (three), eighth in appearances and in the top-20 in five more categories. A three-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team selection, Andrasik is one of just three GVSU players ever to play in multiple College World Series, having also earned a berth in her freshman season (2013).
The 2013 GLIAC Freshman of the Year, Andrasik ranks second all-time in Laker history with 10 saves, seventh with 410 strikeouts, eighth in victories (57) and innings pitched (515.2), and ninth in shutouts (16) and fewest hits allowed (433). She tossed three career no-hitters and played a large role in Grand Valley State totaling a 151-53 record (.740) during her four-year career. Andrasik was a two-time All-Midwest Region selection and earned Daktronics All-America Honorable Mention plaudits in 2013.
Shipley ended her Laker career in grand fashion, winning the individual title at the 2016 NCAA Division II National Championships by tying a school record for a low round with a 69 (-3), her best-ever round at GVSU. She captured the national championship with a decisive final birdie putt on the last hole of her collegiate career to solidify a one-stroke victory, becoming just the second Laker ever to win the individual national title. Led by Shipley's first-place finish, Grand Valley State recorded a fourth-place finish as a team at the championship competition in Aurora, Colo. in late May.
A four-time honoree on the All-GLIAC First Team, Shipley is a two-time WGCA First Team All-American and was named the 2015 GLIAC Woman's Golfer of the Year. She finished her senior season with a team-best 73.79 scoring average, posting 89 birdies and two eagles on the year, as she won four tournaments and placed second in three other competitions. The GLIAC released a Women's Golfer of the Week award six times in the 2015-16 campaign and Shipley received the honor four times, including each of the last three weeks of her career.
Shipley also served as the president of Grand Valley State's SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) and was recently selected as a nominee for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year award. She was named to the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team during the last three years.
May notched USTFCCCA All-America honors as he placed sixth at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 10,000m with a time of 29:59.29, helping the Lakers finish fourth overall in the team standings. That performance was central in May being named to the 2016 Capital One Academic District IV Men's Track & Field/Cross Country team after the season.
May also recorded a fourth-place finish in the 5,000m at the GLIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a time of 14:54.82, one year after placing fifth (14:57.18) in the same event at the conference championship meet. Those efforts helped Grand Valley State win the GLIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championship each year, giving the Lakers three consecutive outdoor league titles. May set personal bests in the 5,000m (14:05.86) and 10,000m (29:44.05) during his junior season and has been on the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team each of the past two years.
