Athletics News
saints highlights
Saints Have Nine
Scholar-Teams
Nine SHU teams were honored as NAIA
Scholar-Teams for their efforts in the
2017-18 academic year. With the fourth
highest grade point average in the NAIA,
the women's golf team led the Saints as
it sported a 3.84 GPA. The dance team
earned a 3.62 GPA, followed closely by
the softball team with a 3.59 GPA. Other
teams honored by the NAIA include
women's volleyball (3.50), women's
soccer (3.44), women's lacrosse (3.40),
men's golf (3.26), baseball (3.13) and
cheer (3.04). For a team to be considered
for the award, it must have a minimum
3.0-grade point average. The team grade
point average includes all eligible varsity
student-athletes.
Student-Athletes Excel in
the Classroom (Again)
A total of 522 SHU student-athletes
earned a 3.15 grade point average in
the 2018 winter semester. Leading the
way in the classroom was the women's
golf team with a 3.86 GPA, followed
by softball (3.62), women's soccer
(3.53), women's volleyball (3.52) and
women's cross country (3.51). All 11 of
the women's teams earned a 3.0 GPA
or higher, with an aggregate of 3.41
for the women. On the men's side, the
men's bowling team led the way with a
3.18 GPA, followed by the baseball team
(3.16), men's golf (3.13), men's soccer
(3.03) and men's cross country and
men's volleyball (3.0). The men's aggre-
gate GPA for the semester was 2.95.
The Saints' 610 student-athletes had a
cumulative 2.94 grade point average
for the fall 2019 semester. The women's
volleyball team led the way with a 3.54
GPA, with women's soccer second (3.49)
and softball third (3.46). The top men's
team was cross country with a 3.05 GPA.
Baseball
Senior Brendan Green and junior Logan
Nolff were each named to the Wolverine-
Hoosier Athletic Conference second team
12 | Reflections Summer ’19
From the Centennial Archives: 1996—Men's NAIA National Runner-up Basketball Team.
to lead the Saints' honorees. Green also
received the conference's Gold Glove
Award for the third time in four years as
a first baseman. Earning all-academic
honors were seniors Green, Brenden
Baker, Reid Olmstead, Landon Lumbrezer
and Snyder Torres, juniors Delver Freites
and Michael Jones and sophomore
Jaden Payne. Senior Trevor Willis was the
team's Champions of Character recipient.
Green was also named to the academic
all-district team and later earned second
team Academic All-American honors from
the College Sports Information Directors
of America. The Saints finished 20-22
overall, 10-12 in the conference.
Saints Again Earn Team Academic
Excellence Award
The Saints were awarded the 2017-18
ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award
for the third consecutive year by the
American Baseball Coaches Association.
The team had a team GPA of 3.16 for
the academic year. The Saints were one
of 14 National Association of Intercolle-
giate Athletics (NAIA) member schools to
receive the award this year, and join the
University of Jamestown (N.D.) as one of
two NAIA teams to be granted the award
every year since its inception in 2015-16.
Kolasinski Named President of ABCA
Head baseball coach John Kolasinski
became the president of the American
Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) on
Jan. 4. He oversees the more than 10,000
member organization that includes
baseball coaches from NCAA Division I,
II, and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Associ-
ation Division, high school and youth.
He will also represent the ABCA at the
2019 MLB All-Star Game in Cleveland
this year as well at the 2019 MLB World
Series. Kolasinski becomes just the sixth
NAIA coach named ABCA president.
Softball
The Saints defeated Cleary, Indiana Tech
and Northwestern Ohio to claim the
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference
Tournament championship. SHU received
an automatic berth to the NAIA National
Tournament as it claimed its first confer-
ence championship since 1996. Senior
infielder Ashley Helmink was named the
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference
Player of the Year to lead the Saints'
all-conference honors. She also earned
a spot on the first team as well as the
all-defensive and all-academic teams.
Helmink was later named first team
All-Region and a first team All-American
by both the NAIA and National Fastpitch
Coaches Association after batting .462
with 10 home runs, nine triples, 25
doubles and a whopping 60 runs batted
in. Senior Racquel Ward was named first
team all-conference as a pitcher, going
19-10 with 2.62 earned run average and
22 complete games. Freshmen outfielder
Sam Hill and pitcher Kelsey Uhl were each
tabbed to the all-conference second team.
Also earning all-conference academic
honors were Ward, Ashley Bearden,
Jordan Bianchi, Kayla Boland and Erika
Schwartz, with Kristi Carlson receiving
the team's Champions of Character
Award. The Saints had six players earn
NAIA Scholar-Athlete recognition, includ-
ing Boland, Helmink, Bearden, Ward,
Bianchi and Schwartz. Helmink and
Boland were also each named to the
academic all-district team by the College
Sports Information Directors of America.
Both advanced to the national ballot.
The Saints finished 35-16 on the season,
16-6 in the conference.
Helmink Named NAIA First Team
All-American
Recent Siena Heights graduate Ashley
Helmink was among 60 student-athletes
named to the 2019 NAIA All-America
teams. Helmink was one of the 20 best
NAIA softball players on the All-America
first team.
Helmink led the Saints in many catego-
ries and had a season batting average
of .462 among hitters with more than
10 at-bats. She broke single-season
records for runs, doubles, triples, and
RBIs. Her .462 batting average is the
second-highest season total in program
history as are her 80 hits and her 10
home runs for 2019.
Ashley Helmink
The North Ridgeville, Ohio native is the
lone representative in the state of Michi-
gan and is the only member from the
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference
(WHAC) to be named All-American.
The second baseman adds this honor
to a phenomenal season in which she
accumulated several awards including
2019 Google Cloud Academic All-America
First Team, NFCA All-Region, Daktronics-
NAIA Scholar-Athlete, WHAC Player of
the Year, first team All-WHAC, All-WHAC
defensive, and Academic All-WHAC.
Saints A Top 10 NAIA Academic Team
The Saints were fourth in the NAIA in
academic performance according to the
National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Siena Heights had a team GPA of 3.591
during the 2017-18 academic year. It is
the fourth straight year the Saints have
earned a top 10 distinction. In addition,
the Saints had a NAIA-best 17 student-
athletes honored as Scholar Athletes.