GUNNISON, Colo. The Western Colorado athletics department on Monday, April 28, hosted its annual WESPY's awards celebration, sponsored and produced by the Mountaineers' Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Among the highlights of the evening was the announcement of the 2024-25 Paul Wright Award winners, presented annually to the top female and male senior athletes based on a combination of athletic accomplishments, scholarship, and character.
The evening's awards schedule culminated with the naming of women's basketball's Rachel Cockman and men's wrestling's Dean Noble as the 2024-25 Paul Wright recipients.
Emcees Emily Jauch (women's swimming and diving) and Logan Butterfield (men's track & field), the SAAC secretary and president, respectively, led their peers through a parade of award recipients, beginning with the awarding of the 2024-25 SAAC Olympics trophy to the men's basketball team.
Jauch and Butterfield then brought to the stage the 10 Mountaineers that through the winter sports season have been voted Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Academic First Team selections:
- Ricky Freymond, Drew Nash and Chance Wiening from football
- Natsuki Murakami from women's soccer
- Kade Juelfs of men's basketball
- Cockman from women's basketball
- Allison Beasley from women's indoor track
- Makenna Lambert and Morgan Nielson from women's swimming and diving, and
- Sage Harrison from men's wrestling
Next honored were Western's All-Americans through the winter sports season. That list included Leah Taylor and Lauren Willson from women's cross country, and Oliver Diaz of men's cross country; Freymond and Nash from football; and Noble from men's wrestling.
Director of Sports Performance Kim Allen was brought to the stage next, to present the Sports Performance department's Stone Mason awards:
- Jevon Young, football
- Grace Helzer, volleyball
- Ellie Kubena, women's soccer
- Peyton Weiss, women's cross country
- Colin Johnson, men's cross country
- Rylee Blanton, women's track & field
- Butterfield, men's track & field
- Lambert, swimming and diving
- Cockman, women's basketball
- Juelfs, men's basketball
- Hunter Richardson, men's wrestling
- Angel Hernandez-Galindo, men's cheerleading, and
- Katalena Lott, women's cheerleading
Interspersed throughout the evening was a crowd-participation Jeopardy game, led by game-show host Drea Thompson.
Following the first Jeopardy break, Jauch and Butterfield began the award presentations, a list of honors voted on by each of Western's sports teams.
The awards list rundown included:
- Newcomers of the Year: Grace Devall (volleyball), Oliver Diaz (men's cross country)
- Maddest Jack Spirit Award: Ainsley Rosenow (women's track & field), Logan Butterfield (men's track & field)
- Clutch Performers of the Year: Sammie Bretz (women's track & field), Dean Noble (men's wrestling)
- Comeback Athletes of the Year: Allison Beasley (women's track & field), Cole Gray (men's wrestling)
- Best Team Performance: women's basketball
- Top Academic Performers: Beasley (women's track & field), Caden Peters (men's cross country)
- Top Academic Teams: women's basketball and men's basketball, and
- Most Valuable Performers: Cockman (women's basketball), Freymond (football)
In addition, Exercise & Sports Science professor Kanae Haneishi was named the recipient of the annual Jay Peck Spirit Award.
The penultimate presentation of the evening was the honoring of the graduating senior student-athletes with their commencement ceremony stoles, meant to be visible recognition of their dedication to Mountaineer athletics throughout their careers.
Butterfield then closed the evening with the announcement of the SAAC officers for the 2025-26 academic year:
- President: Lindsey Osterfelt (women's track & field)
- Vice-President: Ethan VanMeter (men's track & field)
- Secretary: Sarah Connolly (women's soccer)
- Treasurer: Jamie Pearson (women's cross country/track & field)
- Communications and Marketing Coordinator: Owen Wentz (men's track & field), and
- Mental Health Awareness Ambassador: Karly Morkunas (women's soccer)
