Sterling College Athletics celebrate Warriors of Excellence

STERLING, Kan. – Sterling College celebrated the 2026 Warriors of Excellence Award Ceremony on Sunday, May 3 in the Gleason Center. The ceremony celebrates the accomplishments of Sterling’s student athletes throughout the 2025-26 seasons and included recognition of the Warriors of Excellence, Gleason Scholarship award winners, Student Athlete Leadership Team (SALT) awards, the outstanding male and female athlete of the year and the winner of the President’s Cup.

The ceremony, emceed by the Director of Athletic Training Pete Manely, began with head strength and conditioning coach Marty Barnett recognizing the Lifter’s of the Year. The award is presented to the male and female student-athletes who best represent the mission of the strength and conditioning program. This year, Monem Abboud from men’s basketball and Kali Briar from women’s basketball were recognized for their dedication in the weight room.

Next, each team recognized their Champion of Character and Warrior of Excellence. The champion of character is recognized at the KCAC and NAIA level for upholding the NAIA’s five pillars of competition: respect, responsibility, integrity, sportsmanship and servant leadership. The Warrior of Excellence award is presented to student-athletes who display the spirit of excellence in all aspects of their lives: spiritually, academically, physically and character-wise. The athlete represents the mission of Sterling College Athletics which is “Building servant leaders, who glorify Christ, in and out of competition, while striving to be Champions.” The winners are listed below or each sport:

The ceremony also recognized the men’s basketball team as the KCAC Team of Character.

Vice President of Strategic Advancement, Scott Downing, then presented the Gleason Award. This award honors three student-athletes who are sophomores in academic standing who have achieved the highest cumulative GPA in their class: one male, one female and the next highest GPA. The winners were: Bailey Allen of men’s soccer, Allison Reed of women’s swimming and Greta Fankhauser of women’s tennis.

Downing went on to recognize academic excellence from student-athletes with students who have a cumulative GPA of 3.25 receiving a bronze medallion, a silver medallion for a cumulative GPA of 3.5 receiving a silver and student-athletes with a GPA of 3.75 or above receiving a gold medallion. Forty-two student-athletes received a bronze medallion, 43 achieved a silver medallion and 53 Warriors earned a gold medallion.

Members of the Student Athlete Leadership Team (SALT), Taylor “Dru” Lindsey of volleyball and Camden Carr of men’s basketball, then presented the SALT Awards which are decided on by the members of SALT. The first award was the SALT “Shaker” Award which is presented to the Warrior who best displays team spirit and energetic support for Warrior Teams. This year the recipient was Mason Cobb of football.

SALT then recognized the outstanding individual performance by a male and female athlete. For the females, Belle Barnett of women’s track and field was recognized for her performance at the Spire Team Challenge where she cleared 1.70m to win the high jump. This mark met the NAIA “A” standard and qualified her for the 2026 NAIA Outdoor National Championship. Charles Jones of men’s track and field was also recognized for his outstanding performance at the Spire Team Challenge where he won the triple jump with a mark of 15.86m. The mark set a new school record and a new KCAC conference record and made him the first athlete in Sterling College history to eclipse the 50-foot mark.

SALT then recognized the outstanding newcomer of the year: Keala Wilson of volleyball. Wilson joined the Lady Warrior volleyball team as a setter and helped the team to their first ever appearance at the NCCAA National Tournament where they broke out of pool play as the No. 8 seed. On the season, Wilson played in 33 matches and totaled 462 assists, 134 kills, 80 blocks and 208 points. She was also prominent on the defensive end totaling 441 digs. She earned NCCAA Student Athlete of the Week, KCAC Setter of the Week and was named to the KCAC All-Conference second team and NCCAA Central Region second team.

The final award presented by the SALT team was the outstanding team performance which was awarded to women’s volleyball for their upset win against No. 5 seeded Bethel University (Ind.) to secure a place in the NCCAA semifinals. After the team found themselves down 2-1, the Lady Warriors battled back to take the fourth set 25-23 and pulled off the upset with a 15-10 win in the fifth set.

Pete Manely then went on to recognize conference and national award winners listed below:

KCAC First Team

• Sondre Jensen – Men’s Golf
• Charles Jones – Men’s Track & Field
• Blake Robertson – Men’s Track & Field
• Belle Barnett – Women’s Track & Field
• Aliya McClanahan – Vollebal

KCAC Second Team

• Jackson Harding – Baseball
• Emmanuel Huerta Cardenas – Baseball
• Kali Briar- Women’s Basketball
• Zach Surface – Men’s Golf
• Mariah Cunningham – Softball
• Bree Pickerell – Women’s Swimming
• Danna Arroyo – Women’s Tennis
• Keala Wilson – Volleyball

KCAC Third Team

• Nehemiah House – Baseball
• Chuck Lang – Baseball
• Macaela Ambriz – Softball
• Chloe Schmidt – Volleyball

KCAC Honorable Mention

• Julian Smith – Men’s Basketball
• Karlee Jacobs – Women’s Basketball
• McKenna Vogl – Women’s Basketball
• Sheridan Nguyen – Cheer
• Cassidy Kelly – Men’s Soccer
• Jessica Gautreau – Women’s Soccer
• Ian Chrisler – Men’s Track & Field
• Camryn Gantt – Men’s Track & Field
• Jace Gaston – Men’s Track & Field
• Charles Jones – Men’s Track & Field
• Blake Robertson – Men’s Track & Field
• David Sullivan – Men’s Track & Field
• Cedric Wilson – Men’s Track & Field
• Claire Miller – Women’s Track & Field

NCCAA All-Central Region First Team

• Kali Briar – Women’s Basketball
• Aliya McClanahan – Volleyball

NCCAA All-Central Region Second Team

• Ruben Guzman – Men’s Soccer
• Jonathan Torres – Men’s Soccer
• Chimela Victor Orji – Men’s Soccer
• Keala Wilson – Volleyball

Outstanding Player Achievements

• Jackson Harding (Baseball) – Golden Glove (Catcher)
• Emmanuel Huerta Cardenas (Baseball) – Golden Glove (Outfielder)
• McKenna Vogl (Women’s Basketball) – KCAC All-Defensive Team and NCCAA All-Tournament Team
• Charles Jones (Men’s Track & Field) – KCAC Indoor Overall Athlete of the Meet and KCAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Meet
• Danna Arroyo (Women’s Tennis) – KCAC Freshman of the Year
• Aliya McClanahan (Volleyball) – NCCAA Central Region Player of the Year

All-Americans

• Kali Briar (Women’s Basketball) – NCCAA Second Team All-American
• Belle Barnett (Women’s Track & Field) – NAIA Indoor Track & Field All-American
• Aliya McClanahan (Volleyball) – NCCAA Second Team All-American

Champions

• Charles Jones – KCAC Indoor Track & Field, high jump and triple jump
• Rubem Bogomoltz – KCAC Fall Tennis No. 6 singles championship

Manely went on to recognize the top five finalists for the President’s Cup: Baseball, Women’s Basketball, Football, Tennis and Volleyball. The President’s Cup is awarded to the team that represents the Warrior Athletic Department’s values of Christian service, Christian heritage, warrior spirit and academic excellence. According to the stats provided by the team, the average Sterling College student-athlete participated in 17.7 hours of community service, attended 28 spiritual events beyond the chapel requirement and supported at least 32 campus events and activities. As a whole, Sterling College student-athletes had a cumulative GPA of 3.14. This year, the President’s Cup was awarded to Football and Volleyball.

The award ceremony ended with the recognition of seniors and the outstanding male and female senior athlete. Kali Briar of women’s basketball was named the outstanding female athlete. Over her career Briar earned KCAC Freshman of the Year and All-Freshman Team honors while also being named to the KCAC All-Conference second team, NCCAA Central Region First Team and NCCAA Second Team All-American. She appeared in 126 games, totaling 1,485 points, 390 rebounds, 370 assists and 202 steals. Briar helped lead the team to a KCAC regular season championship, a KCAC tournament championship, two NAIA National Tournament appearances and the program’s first NCCAA National Tournament berth.

For the men, Emmanuel Huerta Cardenas of baseball was named the outstanding male senior athlete. Throughout his career of 97 games, he totaled 116 hits, 90 RBIs and 41 extra base hits, including 15 home runs. Huerta Cardenas holds a batting average of .323, with an on-base percentage of .441, a slugging percentage of .532. On the base path he totaled 91 runs, for a total of 191 bases and 15 stolen bases. From the outfield, he holds an impressive fielding percentage of .987 with 215 putouts and nine assists. In the postseason he earned KCAC All-Conference second team honors and was a back-to-back Golden Glove recipient (2025, 2026).

Sterling College also took time to recognize each of the senior student-athletes graduating at the conclusion of the 2025-26 school year. The seniors from each sport are as listed. Baseball: Aaron Elsasser, Joshua Garcia, Nehemiah House, Emmanuel Huerta Cardenas, Cooper Lovelace, Jace Phillips, Imanol Ramos, Jordan Ramsey, Landen Snyder and Michael Tweed. Men’s Basketball: Monem Abboud, Kanoa Ashley, Ziri Blackwood, Damond Daniels, Chris Drake, Waren Houndako, Camren Johnson and Jaivion Reed. Women’s Basketball: Clara Arroyos, Kali Briar, Lauren Galliher and McKenna Vogl. Cheer: Emma Brockman. Football: Kyle Arnett, Kenny Arroyos, Rocklin Baptista, Domanic Bear, Jace Carr, Timothy Chon, PJ Clarkston, Mason Cobb, Nate Criqui, LaMarkus Dotson, Armando Juarez, Blake Montgomery, Jordan Slocum and Ryan Stucky. Golf: Kaz Comley, Anders Hermansen, Sondre Jensen, Jonathan Shelton and Zach Surface. Men’s Soccer: Alejandro Cano, Angel Garcia, Ruben Guzman, Alejandro Mora, Floyd Ransom, Daniel Stone and Jonathan Torres. Women’s Soccer: Elysa Apen, Shayna Dale, Jessica Gautreau, Rebecca Keeler and Francesca Vilca. Softball: Maria Casillas, Cheyenne Cunningham and Mallory Seidel. Men’s Tennis: Pedro Felipoff, Kazuki Fukushima and Adam King.

The ceremony finished with a special recognition of Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Administration, Deb Wiebe who is retiring after 30 years of service to Sterling College Athletics.

Be sure to check for news and updates on Sterling Warrior Athletics on Facebook (/SCWarriors), Twitter (@SterlingCSports), and Instagram (sterlingcsports), as well as the hashtag #SwordsUp. Watch the Warriors’ live home events on the Sterling College Sports Network.