SAULT STE. MARIE – Maria Blazejewski was one of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's top scorers this season, while Derek Kinney was among the league's top rebounders. After topping off their impressive careers with outstanding senior campaigns, the two Laker basketball players were named Lake Superior State's senior athletes of the year.

Blazejewski received the Deb McPherson Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year, Bud Cooper Coaches and Chris Comito Determination awards, while Kinney received the Cliff Everett Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year Award during Tuesday's LSSU Athletics Banquet at the Cisler Center. Other major award winners were seniors Domenic Monardo and Ben Monroe (Bud Cooper Coaches Award), and Sarah Awe and Ben Deuling (Terry McDermott Freshmen of the Year).

 Maria Blazejewski and presenter Deb McPherson

Blazejewski (Beulah, Mich.) excelled in the classroom, maintaining a 3.76 GPA in exercise science and landing an internship at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas last summer. She served as Student-Athlete Advisory Committee president this year and participated in a variety of community service activities throughout her four years at LSSU. This season on the basketball court, she averaged 17.8 points per game to rank second in the GLIAC in scoring and ninth on LSSU's single-season scoring average chart, shot 86.8 percent at the free-throw line to rank third in the GLIAC in free-throw percentage and averaged 6.5 rebounds per game. She totaled a single-season school record 164 free throws and scored 20 or more points in 11 games, including a career-high 32 against Bellarmine last November. She was named to the All-GLIAC First Team in 2013 and Second Team in 2011 and 2012. She totaled 1,585 career points to rank fifth on LSSU's all-time scoring list and finish with a career average of 15 points per game. She also finished fifth in career free-throw percentage and sixth in career free throws made.

 Derek Kinney and presenter Bill Crawford

Kinney (Romulus, Mich.) steadily developed his game throughout his basketball career and helped lead the Lakers to three straight year-end upset victories and a championship game appearance in this year's GLIAC Tournament. With improved strength and all-around skills, he became one of the GLIAC's top forwards and was rewarded with All-GLIAC Second Team honors this season. As a junior he averaged 11.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, ranking 23^rd in the league in scoring and seventh in rebounding. This year he improved to 14.7 points per game to rank 12^th in the GLIAC in scoring, and 8.0 rebounds per game to rank fourth in rebounding. He also shot 50.5 percent from the field to rank 14^th in field-goal percentage – no easy task for a GLIAC power forward. He finished with 1,088 career points and 680 rebounds. He moved up to eighth on LSSU's career rebounding list, shot 50.9 percent from the field over four years, and had a career scoring average of 9.9 points per game. He totaled six double doubles in scoring and rebounding this season, including an impressive 18 points and 10 rebounds in a GLIAC championship loss to Findlay.

LSSU's two male winners of the Cooper Coaches Award were also athlete of the year nominees. Monardo (Oakville, Ont.) led the Central Collegiate Hockey Association in goals scored this season, while Monroe (Webberville, Mich.) is an all-region sprinter for the track and field team. LSSU's hockey points leader during the past two seasons has a well-documented background that includes a comeback from a broken neck suffered in 2008. His courageous return to hockey led to him winning the CCHA's prestigious Flanagan Award in 2012. Monardo is thankful for every day he's able to lace up his skates, projects a contagious enthusiasm for Laker Hockey and is a fan favorite at clinics and special events. He's a 100-point scorer and playing professionally for the Gwinnett Gladiators of the East Coast Hockey League.

 Blazejewski and Ben Monroe with presenter Steve Hettinga.

Monroe survived a bout with cancer prior to attending LSSU, walked onto the Lakers' track and field team and established himself as a team leader and one of the GLIAC's top sprinters. He earned All-Midwest Region honors last spring by clocking the region's fifth-fastest time in the 100-meter dash. He finished fourth in 200-meter dash and eighth in the 60-meter dash during the 2013 GLIAC Indoor Championships in March. He owns three indoor and four outdoor school sprint records and is poised to have an outstanding spring season. He is one of LSSU's most-approachable student-athletes, and showed his gracious character when he ran a national qualifying time in a recent indoor 200 dash race only to find out that his performance was nullified because the timing system had malfunctioned. Outdoor highlights so far this season include another school record in the 4x400-meter relay and a 14^th-place finish in the Raleigh Relays Invitational 200.

Awe (Washington Township, Mich.), who is LSSU's outstanding female freshman athlete, led the Laker women's tennis team in wins this season, finishing 15-8 overall and ranking third in the league in win percentage at No. 3 singles. She was 9-5 in GLIAC singles matches and 12-11 overall in doubles.

 Ben Deuling and Sarah Awe

LSSU's male freshman of the year, Deuling (Muskegon, Mich.), was the No. 1 runner for the men's cross country team at the Wisconsin-Parkside meet and claimed the No. 2 spot during the Lakers' other four meets. He placed 11^th in mile at the GLIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in March. So far during the outdoor season, he posted top-20 finishes in the men's 1,500 and 5,000 at the University of North Florida Spring Break Invitational, and was a double winner at last weekend's Bulldog Invitational at Ferris State. He is LSSU's first freshman USTFCCCA Academic All-American and the winner of the Chris Yanni Memorial Award.

 Deuling with presenter Steve Eles

Other awards presented include the inaugural Laker Club Endowment (women's track and field), Marian and Raymond Chelberg Outstanding Science Athlete Scholarship (Haleigh Edgar, softball), Kiwanis Scholastic Award (Mike Caputo, golf), Harry Pike Award (Nolin Livingston, track and field), Jim Fallis Endowed Scholarship (Justin Balczak, track and field), Dillon Menard Scholarship (Coleson Wrege, track and field), Dr. Madan Saluja Endowed Scholarship (Kelsey Lewis, cross country/track and field).

The Laker Club Endowment was established in 1996 and will recognize the LSSU varsity team with the highest team grade point average. This year's winner is the women's track and field team, which has a team GPA of 3.14. In addition to success in the classroom, the women's track and field team set seven indoor school records and landed four athletes on the GLIAC All-Academic Team. So far this season, indoor school records have been set by Shashawna Bennett (60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles), Leslie Mitchell (200-meter dash), Michaela Newberry (400-meter dash), Bennett, Newberry, Sarah Gallagher and Mitchell (4x400-meter relay), Ciara O'Devero (pole vault), and Emily Koning (weight throw). Bennett went on to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, and Jessica Allen, Elizabeth Dachs, Gallagher and Lewis earned all-academic honors.

 Women's Track and Field team representatives with Director of Athletics Kris Dunbar

Edgar (Tecumseh, Mich.), a junior second baseman, ranks second on LSSU's softball team and 16^th in the GLIAC in hitting with a .353 batting average. She also has a fielding average of .948. She ranks second among LSSU student-athletes academically, maintaining a 3.97 GPA while majoring in biology.

 Haleigh Edgar with presenter Nancy Kirkpatrick

The Kiwanis Award is presented to the LSSU senior student-athlete who attains the highest academic competence. Caputo (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) aspires to be a doctor and maintains a 3.915 GPA in biology. He is second on the team in scoring average at 76.7 and carded a hole-in-one during Saturday's regional tournament in Georgetown, Kentucky.

 Mike Caputo with presenter Brian Snyder

 Justin Balczak with presenter Matt Sparks

The Jim Fallis Award goes to an All-American or student-athlete who has excelled in the classroom and in his or her sport. Named after LSSU's All-America wrestler and former director of athletics, this award is not presented every year because it is intended for an athlete who has succeeded at a national level. Balczak (Cedar Springs, Mich.), a sophomore, came to LSSU as a hurdler, but burst onto the national scene as a multi-event specialist. He earned his first All-America honor last spring by finishing third in the men's decathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Nationals in Pueblo, Colo. Last month in Birmingham, Ala., he recorded personal bests in five of seven events and was the NCAA runner-up in the indoor heptathlon, posting the second-highest score in NCAA Division II history. He was invited to compete against the nation's elite decathletes at the Mt. SAC Relays in Azuza, Cal., April 17-18.

 Nolin Livingston with presenter Tom Coates

The Dr. Harry Pike Scholarship, presented to an athlete in a non-fully funded sport, is based on financial need, and academic and athletic merit. Livingston (Adrian, Mich.), a freshman, placed fourth at the NMU Challenge and tied for 15^th at the DII Team Challenge in Geneva, Ohio. At last weekend's Bulldog Invitational at Ferris State, he placed fourth in the discus and eighth in the hammer throw. He has a 3.65 GPA in manufacturing engineering technology.

Wrege (Shelby Township, Mich.), a sophomore and two-time winner of the Menard Scholarship, is also a Laker Gold Scholarship winner with a 3.91 GPA while majoring in Fisheries and Wildlife Management. At the GLIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in March, he ran the 800-meter leg of the Lakers' ninth-place distance medley relay and led off the men's 4x400-meter relay, which finished 10^th. He also ran the first leg of the Lakers' 4x400 relay that set an outdoor school record during the Raleigh Relays on March 30.

The Dr. Madan Saluja Endowed Scholarship was established in 2011 by former students and friends of LSSU's legendary School of Business professor, who has taught at the University for more than 40 years. It benefits a student-athlete who is a member of the LSSU track and field or cross country team and majoring in business. Lewis (Berrien Springs, Mich.) is a junior and No. 2 runner on the cross country team. She is also among the Laker leaders in the outdoor 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs, and maintains a 3.0 GPA in accounting.

 Dr. Madan Saluja with Kelsey Lewis

The Bud Cooper Endowed Scholarships (which are divided equally among LSSU's nine non-fully-funded teams), were awarded to junior Kaitlynn Hutchinson (women's tennis), junior Ryne DuShane (men's tennis), Dachs (women's cross country, junior), junior Taylor Heath (men's cross country), junior Jeremy Braman (men's track and field), sophomore Becca Carruthers (women's track and field), sophomore Emily Root (softball), junior Andrew McKenney (men's golf) and sophomore Halley Borseth (women's golf).

Cooper Endowed Scholarship winners (from left): Elizabeth Dachs, Becca Carruthers, Kaitlynn Hutchinson, Ryne DuShane, Taylor Heath, Jeremy Braman, Andrew McKenney, Halley Borseth and Emily Root.