Courtesy: Reva Ludwig
Eight athletes combined to win 12 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Player of the Week awards across the fall sports season, with junior receiver Shea Ruddy receiving first team All-American honors from the Division II Conference Commissioners Association as well as the G-MAC Special Teams Player of the Year.
Charger football finished the regular season with a 6–5 record and made it to the Albanese Candy Bowl game for the first time since the 2021 season.
“Getting selected to the bowl game was not anything anybody was expecting, but having that fall into our lap there at the end was a nice bonus,” head football coach Nate Shreffler said. “They were genuinely excited to be there, and from a performance standpoint, playing against a really good team in Upper Iowa and played pretty well.”
Ruddy led the G-MAC with 960 return yards and three kick return touchdowns, as well as being named a three-time G-MAC Player of the Week during the season. Ruddy is now the all-time leader in both return yards and kick return touchdowns, surpassing the 2005 record of return specialist Chad Gurica ’06.
“There has never been a question about the effort of the guys on the team,” Ruddy said. “We always push ourselves to the end of every game no matter the outcome. Our kickoff return unit had a great year thanks to Coach Stokes and the 10 guys in front of me. That is something we are going to continue to perfect.”
Freshman tailback Ben Ngishu led the Chargers with 794 rushing yards, and junior tight end Noah Larrick won the Elite 26 Award, which is given to the student athlete with the highest cumulative GPA.
Shreffler praised Ngishu’s first season with the Chargers, which saw him win the G-MAC Freshman of the Year.
“I would expect him to have a really good career for us,” Shreffler said. “I think that was a well-deserved award based on his performance.”
In total, the Chargers had six players on the G-MAC First Team All-Conference and two on the Second-Team All-Conference. The Chargers also had eight players who received College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors.
To qualify for Academic All-District, student athletes need to either start in 66% of games or appear in 90% of games, while maintaining a GPA of at least 3.5.
“We expect everybody to perform at their best and maximize their potential,” Shreffler said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who take that to heart in all phases of their life, and I think getting that kind of recognition for eight guys is pretty impressive.”
Seniors shine despite volleyball’s difficult season
Charger volleyball finished with an 11–4 conference record and had four athletes receive 2025 CSC Academic All-District honors.
Senior middle hitter Adi Sysum was a two-time G-MAC Player of the Week last season and closed out her college career with G-MAC first team honors.
Senior setter Josie TeSlaa led the team with 700 assists to move into the top-10 all-time for the Chargers.
Golf looks to build off strong fall
In golf, the Chargers were one of the top teams in the Midwest for DII, winning their first tournament and finishing second in the second tournament against No.1 Grand Valley State University.
Junior Robert Thompson finished in the top 10 in every fall tournament, winning two tournaments and tying for first in a third before losing the playoff.
“This fall was a nice season for us,” Thompson said. “Last year, we finally made it back to the postseason. So this year, we obviously want to make it back to the NCAA Regional, but we also want to finally win G-MACs for the first time and make the national championship. I think this year we certainly have a lineup that is capable of both, but we need to have it all come together at the right time.”
Head golf coach Luke Kelly said he saw encouraging signs from the team during the fall season.
“We won our first tournament, so that was super fun to get off to that hot start,” Kelly said. “We kind of struggled a bit in the middle of the fall, but some of that was just course management things. Nothing huge, but all things that we can correct and work on this winter to set us up for a better spring.”
Kelly said he is confident that Thompson can build off his successful fall in the spring season.
“Rob has played some nice golf this winter so far,” Kelly said. “He was back home in Charlotte, North Carolina and played in a tournament and shot some really nice scores. I think he’ll continue to do what he’s doing and the other guys will learn from him and be able to feed off him and improve and get to his level.”
Kuzma achieves second All-American honor
The men’s and women’s cross-country teams both finished in the top five at the G-MAC championships with sophomore Ally Kuzma receiving All-American honors following her 20:38.7 time and 13th-place finish in the 6K at the DII nationals meet in November.
Shotgun team sends students to nationals
The Hillsdale shotgun team had three members qualify for the Open and Junior Women’s National Teams, with sophomore Taylor Dale and junior Ava Downs qualifying in International Trap and junior Madeline Corbin qualifying in International Skeet. All three shooters finished in the top six in open qualifying for their divisions.
Fall achievements are just the beginning
Junior Ané Dannhauser made team history in the women’s fall tennis season with four straight wins in the top A bracket at the ITA Midwest Regional Oct. 4-6, en route to a G-MAC Player of the Week award.
The men’s tennis team received strong contributions from its freshmen in the ITA Midwest Regional, with freshmen Patrick Cretu and Jackson Clements both advancing to the semifinals in the Flight B consolation bracket.
Both tennis teams will resume play Jan. 30 at home against Spring Arbor University.
The swim team also had a strong showing in the fall season, placing in the top three in each of its meets while winning the dual meets Nov. 7 and 8.
The Chargers’ next swim meet will be Jan. 16 in California, Pennsylvania.
