Aaron Mann and Paige Robinson named Dr. Edsel Matthews Award winners at DU All-Sports Awards

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Drury baseball player Aaron Mann and women’s basketball player Paige Robinson were honored with the Dr. Edsel Matthews Award at the Drury All-Sports Awards ceremony on Tuesday. In addition, men’s swimmer Mikita Tsmyh and softball player Kristina Bettis were honored with Drury’s Newcomer of the Year award.
 
The Dr. Edsel Matthews Award honors outstanding achievement in a collegiate athletics career, academic excellence, leadership, and the character that embodies an elite student-athlete. Dr. Matthews was Drury’s head men’s basketball coach in the 1970’s and served as the institution’s Director of Athletics in the 2000’s.
 
Drury baseball’s Aaron Mann was the men’s Matthews Award winner. Mann’s career totals only include one full season, but he is still among Drury baseball’s all-time leaders in nearly every offensive category. He has 210 career hits, currently seventh on the all-time list, and his 163 RBIs ranks third all-time at Drury. Mann’s career slugging percentage ranks among the top five in program history at .574. He is currently batting .415 with six home runs, and 52 runs batted in during 46 games. He was named a First Team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference performer twice and, as a freshman, he led the team in hitting in 2019, a year the Panthers reached the NCAA-II tournament. This year, Mann has helped the team to a 33-13 record. He is graduating with a double major in economics and finance and will hold a minor in cyber risk management.
 
Paige Robinson ended her storied career with the Lady Panthers last March being named All-American for the second time in her career. She was named the NCAA-II National Player of the Year in 2021 by the WBCA and won the Ron Lenz Award as national MVP in Division II the same year. A four-time First Team All-GLVC selection, Robinson was a part of four conference championship teams, an undefeated team in 2020 that finished the year ranked number one nationally, two squads reached the Final Four, and the 2021 team was the National Runner-Up. Drury went 123-8 during her four years on the team, 72-4 in conference play, and 12-0 in the league tournament. She was twice named the GLVC Tournament MVP, and was the Midwest Regional Tournament MVP in 2021. Despite a COVID-shortened season last year and missing two months with an injury this season, Robinson set a program record in three-pointers made, was the second player in program history to score 2,000 career points, and is the program’s all-time leader in career scoring average. She is the only player in program history to rank in the top 12 in all-time points, rebounds, assists, and steals. Robinson was a GLVC All-Academic honoree in every year of her career and an Academic All-American.
 
Mikita Tsmyh was Drury’s Newcomer of the Year for men’s athletics. Tsmyh helped the men’s swimming & diving team to a national runner-up finish in 2022. He was on Drury’s national championship 200 Medley Relay, and on the final night of the national meet, won gold in the 200 Backstroke. Mikita also turned in a third-place finish in the 100 Backstroke and was on Drury’s fourth-place 400 Medley Relay team at nationals. At the GLVC Championships, the Belarus native won the conference title in the 100 Backstroke, and he took the championship in the 200 Backstroke while setting a new GLVC record.
 
The women’s Newcomer of the Year was softball’s Kristina Bettis. In her first season on Drury’s softball team, she shattered the team’s strikeout record fanning 234, breaking the previous mark of 168. She also set the program’s single-game strikeout record with 15 on February 20, then broke it again with 16 on April 2. She threw the second no-hitter in program history and the team’s first in a decade on March 14 at Rockhurst. With two weeks remaining the season, Bettis set a program record in wins with 19 and is now 22-3 and leads the GLVC in strikeouts and opposing batting average. She has been named the GLVC Pitcher of the Week five times and has been named the NCAA-II Pitcher of the Week this season. And she is among 50 players in Division II on the All-American watch list and has helped Drury softball to a 35-14 record.
 
Each of Drury’s also announced their Panther Pride award winners. Each team selected a member of their squad that had an outstanding academic record, was a positive role model, overcame adversity, showed improvement and embodied the characteristics of a team player and Drury Panther.
 
Baseball- Austin Fennewald
Men’s Basketball- Victor Nwagbarachoa
Men’s Cross Country- Will Kershaw
Men’s Golf- Sam Stack
Men’s Soccer- Trevor Cairns
Men’s Swimming & Diving- Dominik Karacic
Men’s Tennis- Lukas Stierling
Men’s Track & Field- Byron King
Wrestling- Sam Schultz
Women’s Basketball- Payton Richards
Women’s Bowling- Anna Bartz
Women’s Cross Country- Claire McCune
Women’s Golf- Annaliesia Salazar
Women’s Soccer- Mackenzie Serrano
Softball- Megan Parsley
Women’s Swimming & Diving- Bec Cross
Women’s Tennis- Ewa Samberger
Women’s Track & Field- Katie McCune
Triathlon- Melanie Abbott
Volleyball- Taylor Forth
 
The Panthers also announced their Academic Cup winners for 2022. This was the team with the highest grade point average from the spring semester of 2021 through the fall semester of 2021.
 
The winner of the men’s Academic Cup was the cross country team, while the women’s Academic Cup was captured by the softball squad.
 
Included in the evening was the awarding of the Wayne Barnes Memorial Scholarship, given to a men’s or women’s basketball player for the upcoming season. This year’s recipient was Lady Panthers forward and Fair Grove native Alana Findley.
 
 
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This article is provided by Drury University Athletics
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