End-of-year awards...already??

Written by: Stephanie Harris
Sports Information Director

In my role as sports information director at Hamline, I spend most of my time writing about names, numbers, "Ws," and "Ls." Also in my role as sports information director at Hamline, I decided to indulge myself today and take the opportunity to write about what a joy it is to see our athletes' work rewarded as we wind down the academic year.

I have been fortunate enough to work at Hamline for nearly four and a half years now in a couple of different positions - meaning that this year's graduating class is the first group of student-athletes I have known since they arrived for orientation in August of 2006.

Although I saw it coming for weeks as award nominations rolled in, voting took place, and plaques were prepared - it still seemed to come as a shock that today was our year-end awards ceremony.

Our student-athletes started rolling into Sundin Music Hall at 8am for the Honors Day Ceremony, and I found it hard to believe that many of them will be graduating in just a few weeks (May 22, to be exact). I also found it just as hard to believe that many of them will no longer be "first-years" in a few weeks - they have made it through that scary inaugural season with flying colors!

There were athletes who entered Hamline as unrecruited players who just wanted to try out for the chance to play a collegiate sport and there were athletes who had been highly pursued by their coaches. Walking in were athletes with multiple All-American honors and some who had never played a minute in an official varsity game.

All together, however, they are the Pipers - and it was great to have them all in one room to celebrate their seasons.

Hamline honors eight athletes each May with "departmental awards" - a male and female rookie of the year; the male and female senior with the highest GPA; the senior male & female athlete of the year; and the male and female seniors with the top four-year career in athletics, academic, and service.

You can see the list of honorees by reading this story. Watching their surprised faces, hearing the pride in their coaches' voices as they are presented with their award, and hearing the applause of their teammates is the best part of the day.

Every one of these athletes has provided one of those "WOW!" or "Holy cow!" moments for our fans. They are all outstanding people who say "Hi!" to familiar faces in the hallway and they are all great students who truly exemplify the phrase "student-athlete."

I was told by a couple of coaches on stage that while I was taking pictures of our award winners, I had a huge smile on my face like I was on the other side of the camera. And I realized later that there are a couple of reasons for that! 1) I, unlike my colleagues on stage, could hear some of the whispers and comments between athletes in the audience during the "down time" - and we have some pretty funny people! and 2) How can I not smile as I think about some of the hard-fought games/meets/contests in which I have watched them compete, or the great conversations and work interactions I have been privileged to have with them off the field?

As I turned from my seat and scanned the rest of the student-athletes, I couldn't help but smile - at least internally - as I thought of some of the great accomplishments and stories that they have to tell. I think I am very lucky in my job with the Pipers - I get to watch every single sport compete and get to know a little bit about nearly every athlete.

It's always bittersweet to see the seniors move on - there will be holes in line-ups and student work positions to fill, but they are definitely ready to take on the next challenges in their lives!

However, before they leave - we're not quite done with them. The Pipers have a baseball double-header left and at least three track & field meets - so they can't turn the tassel, yet!

Best of luck to our seniors - thanks for a great four years! And good luck to all of our returners in 2010-11 - may this be the greatest year for the Pipers yet!