Student-athletes honored at year-end awards banquet
May 3, 2018
The Department of Athletics celebrated the conclusion of the 2017-2018 season for
all 10 of its athletic teams with the annual All-Sports Award Banquet. Rifle senior
Sagen Maddalena was named Most Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year, and ice hockey
senior defenseman Zach Frye was named Most Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year.
Maddalena was also named Alaska rifle’s MVP and Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Earlier
she had been selected as a Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association first team All-American
and an National Rifle Association first team All-American in both smallbore and air
rifle, for a total of three All-America nods in her final season with the Nanooks.
Maddalena helped the Nanooks break three program records in the team smallbore score,
the team air rifle score and the team aggregate score. The Groveland, California,
native also tied her individual personal-best marks in smallbore (591), air rifle
(599) and aggregate total (1189) multiple times throughout the season. At the NCAA
Rifle Championships in March, Maddalena placed fourth in the air rifle individual
finals and eighth in the smallbore individual finals, as the Nanooks placed fifth
as a team overall.
Frye earned the honor of the Most Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year after a successful
season with the Alaska hockey team. The Spokane, Washington, native was named to the
All-Western Collegiate Hockey Association first team as one of two defensemen before
being named the team’s MVP, top scorer, top defenseman and top playoff performer at
the end of the year banquet earlier last month. In his four years with the Nanooks,
Frye appeared in 136 games, collecting 21 goals and 56 assists for 77 points.
In the 2017-2018 campaign alone, Frye played in 35 games for the Nooks, tallying a
conference-best 11 goals for defensemen and 23 assists for a career-high 34 points.
Frye led all WCHA blueliners in goals per games played (0.31), shots on goal (120)
and shots on goal per games played (3.43). Additionally, Frye led his teammates in
all the same categories, as well as assists per game (0.66), points per games played
(0.97), power play goals (4), power play assists (6), power play points (10), game-winning
goals (2), plus (34) and blocked shots (54). Frye tallied 11 multi-point efforts throughout
the season and was named a WCHA Defensive Player of the Week on three occasions and
the WCHA Defensive Player of the Month for February.
The Nanook Athletics Advisory Committee scholar-athletes of the year were awarded
to Maddalena and cross country running’s Lyon Kopsack and Carl Wahlin. Usually, there
is only one female and one male selection, but Kopsack and Wahlin will share the award
as co-honorees. The NAAC scholar-athletes were selected based on a combination of
academic and athletic achievements, as well as their on- and off-campus leadership
activities, dedication to community service and character. Maddalena, Kopsack and
Wahlin were selected and vetted by a committee of university staff and faculty and
were recognized at the UAF student awards breakfast last month.
Senior cross country runner and Nordic skier Sarissa Lammers was named the Bart LeBon
Humanitarian of the Year after serving on the national Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
for the past two years, representing the Alaska Nanooks and the Great Northwest Athletic
Conference at the conference and national level for the past two seasons.
Nick Hinz, a senior on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, was given the Joe Tremarello
Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award for his interactions with teammates and fellow
competitors and his engagement in the community and on campus.
The Harris Shelton Spirit of Competition award was presented to Alaska swimming junior
Cassidy Heaton. After a promising start to the 2017-2018 season in the pool, Heaton
was diagnosed with mononucleosis and couldn’t compete for the majority of the fall
semester. Heaton, a native of Fairbanks, worked to return to the pool and eventually
earned multiple NCAA “B” cut times through the second half of the season.
The Owen Tinker Fan of the Year award was given to Bert Ryan, who can be found at
any of the Alaska volleyball, hockey and men’s and women’s basketball games with a
popcorn and a soda right behind the home team bench.
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Keith Champagne handed out honors to the top staff
member and coach within the athletics department. Alaska hockey equipment manager
Kevin Duffy was given the Staff Member of the Year Award, while head cross country
and Nordic skiing coach Nick Crawford was selected as the coach of the year for the
second-straight season.
The inaugural Linda Moffit Leadership in Courage Award was given to cross country
senior Cheyenne Greenside for her service on the Title IX committee, representing
student-athletes. Greenside will also be running from San Francisco to New York for
50 days in a row to promote young adult cancer awareness.
In addition to the Alaska Nanooks department-wide awards, each sport recognized their
most valuable player and Dr. William Wood Scholar-Athlete of the Year. This year’s
winners were submitted by their coaching staff and include:
Women’s basketball: Kyle Wallace (Scholar-Athlete) and Lexi Carpenter (MVP)
Men’s basketball: Zach Hatch (Scholar-Athlete) and Alex Baham (MVP)
Men’s cross country: Lyon Kopsack (Scholar-Athlete) and Lukash Platil (MVP)
Women’s cross country: Alex Bergholtz (Scholar-Athlete and MVP)
Hockey: Anton Martinsson (Scholar-Athlete) and Zach Frye (MVP)
Rifle: Sagen Maddalena (Scholar-Athlete and MVP)
Men’s skiing: Arnaud Guyon (Scholar-Athlete) and Seiji Takagi (MVP)
Women’s skiing: Kati Roivas (Scholar-Athlete) and Ann-Cathrin Uhl (MVP)
Swimming: Abby Blackstone (Scholar-Athlete) and Cassidy Heaton (MVP)
Volleyball: Maddie Davis (Scholar-Athlete ) and Rachel Nichols (MVP)
The 2017-18 Alaska Nanooks All-Sports Awards Ceremony Winners
Most Outstanding Female Athlete: Sagen Maddalena (rifle)
Most Outstanding Male Athlete: Zach Frye (hockey)
NAAC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Sagen Maddalena (rifle)
NAAC Co-Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year: Lyon Kopsack and Carl Wahlin (cross country)
Bart LeBon Humanitarian of the Year: Sarissa Lammers (cross country and Nordic skiing)
Joe Tremarello Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award: Nick Hinz (hockey)
Harris Shelton Spirit of Competition Award: Cassidy Heaton (swimming)
Linda Moffit Leadership in Courage Award: Cheyenne Greenside (cross country)
Owen Tinker Fan of the Year: Bert Ryan
Staff Member of the Year: Kevin Duffy (hockey equipment manager)
Coach of the Year: Nick Crawford (men’s and women’s cross country running and skiing
head coach)