DETROIT (4/20/2017) -- It was a special afternoon on campus at the University of Detroit Mercy on Thursday as the Department of Athletics honored some of its best student-athletes at the annual Academic & Athletic Awards banquet. The event was held at the Student Ballroom with the Voice of the Titan men's basketball team Cliff Russell serving as the emcee.
 
The most prestigious award given out on the day was the President's Award, presented to the most outstanding male and female seniors who best typify the image of the complete student-athlete. This year's award went to Kyle Gaines of men's golf, while the female side had co-winners for the first time in school history in Rosanna Reynolds of women's basketball and Sarah Thompson of women's golf.
 
Gaines has been a starter since his freshman campaign on the men's golf team and was selected All-Horizon League as a sophomore. As a senior, he is currently having his best season leading the team in scoring average at 74.7, a new career best and ranking ninth in the Horizon League. He has four top-10 finishes and six top-20 efforts, including winning his first career tournament at the Bulldog Florida Invitational in come-from-behind fashion. His career average of 75.14 is also currently seventh in school history. Last year, he also earned the prestigious Golf Coaches Association's All-America Scholar honors.
 
Reynolds was named the Team MVP in her final collegiate season on the hardwood and became just the second player in school history to earn three All-Conference honors in their career. The First Team All-Conference honoree this past season had one of the best careers in Titan history, breaking the career mark in assists (552) and career starts (129), while also reaching No. 3 in career scoring (1,745 points). She became the first player in school history with 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists and led the team in scoring during the season with 16.2 points per game. Reynolds is a four-time member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll, a three-time member of the Horizon League Fall and Spring Academic Honor Roll, a two-time All-Academic squad recipient and the 2016 Co-Horizon League Winter Scholar Athlete.
 
Thompson is finishing a brilliant career on the golf course and is second in school history in career average at 79.11, which will give her three seasons among the top 10 in school history. As a senior, she currently ranks fourth in the Horizon League in scoring average and has led the Titans in all nine tournaments on the season. She is a two-time All-Horizon League selection who started her career as the Horizon League Freshman of the Year. In her career, she has 13 top-10 finishes and 24 top-20 efforts - ranking in the top 10 in both categories in the record book - with two career victories. Academically, she has been a four-year member of the Detroit Mercy and the Horizon League Fall & Spring Academic Honor Roll as well as a two-time member of the Horizon League All-Academic Team.
 
The Titan Club Award, presented to a male and female student-athlete on the merits of athletic performance and academic excellence, went to junior Ben Kendell (cross country/track and field) and senior Anna Mindling (women's soccer).
 
Kendell just keeps on putting his name in the Titan record books. In cross county, he was All-Horizon League First Team for the third-straight year finishing runner-up for the second-straight season at the 2016 Horizon League Championship. He is now the first Titan to post three top-five finishes at the Horizon League meet. In track and field, he earned four All-Horizon League accolades and owns three schools records. He is also a two-time Horizon League Fall Scholar of the Year honoree.
 
Mindling led the Titans over the past two seasons, including a dominant senior campaign with 22 points on nine goals and four assists. She finished the season ranking second in the Horizon League in goals scored and tied for sixth in points. Overall, Mindling finished her career with 63 starts in 75 games played tallying 43 points over her four-year career with 17 goals and nine assists to her credit. As a senior, she was First Team All-Horizon League and was named to the NSCAA Scholar All-Region honors after being named to the Division I Scholar All-North/Central Third Team.
 
Seniors Patryk Koscielski (men's tennis) and Sarah Montone (women's golf) received the Reverend Norbert Huetter Award, given to a male and female student-athlete who sets an example for others by their display of attitude, dedication and leadership.
 
Koscielski is a team captain for the second-straight season on the men's tennis team, a sign of respect from his teammates. They see the hard work and dedication he brings every day to practice and that has rubbed off this year as the men's tennis program already has 10 victories, the most since 1991. He was tabbed All-Horizon League as a sophomore and is on his way to earning All-League honors again as he is second on the team with 15 singles wins, with 10 of those at the No. 2 position.
 
Montone is one of the leaders on the women's golf team and the athletic student body, serving as Co-President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She was also a nominee for this year's Valedictorian honor. Montone has been a starter on the golf team for the past three seasons and has done a number of community service projects as a Titan. She is currently fourth on the team with an 83.1 average and is a two-time Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholar.
 
The Male and Female Newcomer of the Year, presented each spring to the athletes who competed during the previous academic year as incoming freshmen or transfer students on the basis of athletic and academic excellence, was awarded to Algird Szumlas of men's fencing and Kaitlyn Wandelt of women's lacrosse.
 
Szumlas finished his freshman season with a mark of 56-23, earning Team MVP honors. He medaled at the Midwestern Fencing Conference Championships placing third out of 55 competitors and would end up being named First Team All-Conference.
 
Wandelt had one of the best seasons in school and Atlantic Sun Lacrosse history as she was voted the 2016 Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Atlantic Sun. She was the NCAA Division I freshmen leader in six different categories -- goals (64), goals per game (3.20), points (75), points per game (3.75), free-position goals per game (0.95) and caused turnovers per game (1.50). She also ranked seventh in goals and 12th in goals per game and broke the school record for draw controls in a season with 73, tops in the Atlantic Sun.
 
Juniors Charlie Hayes (men's lacrosse) and Brittany Fenney (women's lacrosse), won the Larry Bleach Award, given to a male and female student-athlete who sets the strength and conditioning standards for other student-athletes to follow.
 
Both student-athletes have been leaders in the preparation for gameday in the sport of lacrosse, and that hard work can be seen on the field as they continued to improve and became some of the best players in their respective leagues at their position.
 
The Dad Butler Award, presented to the male and female student-athletes who show dedication to practice and having the ability to rehabilitate an injury to his or her fullest capabilities, was earned by Matt DeVries (men's soccer) and Ashley Bayles (women's track and field).
 
A year after he played just three soccer games due to an ACL injury, DeVries came back to play in all 17 games with 16 starts and ranked third on the team with 15 shots and had one assist. He ended up playing in 1,103 minutes, which ranked eighth on the team.
 
Bales recovered from a back injury to score in two events at the 2017 Horizon League Track & Field Indoor Championships. She was fourth in the shot put with a throw of 13.18 meters. She then hit a PR of 16.16 meters on her final toss of the weight throw, moving her from seventh to third in the standings to earn six points. The mark is also the seventh-best all-time in Titan history.
 
With a GPA of 3.596, the women's lacrosse team earned the 2017 Team Excellence Award, which recognizes the varsity team with the highest overall grade point average for the past academic year.
 
Women's soccer senior Mary LeAnnais was selected the Community Service Award winner, given to a team or individual who best exemplify the true essence of community service and giving back to the community. She has led many initiatives on-campus for trash clean-up, food drives, sandwich making and distribution to the homeless, bystander intervention training to other individuals, recycling, freshman move-in and commencement assistance, and card making for military children. In addition, she regularly contributes to the University Ministry service, volunteers to Gleaners warehouse by assembling packages, mentors (K-6) students in various Detroit schools through the Ford Community Corps partnership, Priest Elementary and the RX Reading program, distributes information to the Mega March for the Humane Society on Belle Isle and Zoo Walk to stop diabetes, and serves food and collects donations through the Lakeridge Village and St. Francis Warming Center.  She has also helped rebuild houses in NOLA during winter vacation time, promotes justice and Islamophobia, and has worked in non-living wage factories in Washington D.C., though Ignatian Family Teach-In. 
 
The Titan Spirit Award, given to a person who is the truest of all fans and dedicated at home and on the road, went to Santana Scott.
 
A freshman on the cross country and track field teams, his love for Titan athletics can be seen at every event. He might be dancing in Calihan Hall or at Titan Field or even historic Joe Louis Arena and has become a staple at all events with his spirit and enthusiasm energizing the crowd. There is not a soul who has come to an athletic event this year and did not know who he was at the end of the day and his passion for Titan athletics shines.
 
One of the highest honors at the event is the Academic Excellence Award as 27 Titan student-athletes earned the accolade. Those achieved academic excellence during their time at Detroit Mercy as they have recorded at least a 3.0 GPA for every semester that they have participated in college athletics.
 
That academic list includes: Kyle Beauregard, Tommy Bowman, Austin Carlisle, Julie Castner, Aubrey Formica, Ismail Kadyrov, Kayla Kane, Mary LeAnnais, Alexandra LeBlanc, Greg Marzec, Anna Mindling, Sarah Montone, Tyler Moorman, Ilia Panev, Rosanna Reynolds, Carley Rice, Haleigh Ristovski, Grace Schmeiser, Brooke Sharpe, Jaclyn Snyder, Adam Susalla, David Thompson, Sarah Thompson, Kristen Tobin, Nynke Van Der Goot, Kaitlan Vossen and Samantha Zakalowski.
 
The Athletic Department would like to thank all of those in attendance and all the great student-athletes who achieved greatness in the classroom and in competition.