North Coast Athletic Conference Athletes of the Week – Week of Sept. 10, 2024
 
Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week – Brayden Curnutt, Wabash
Wabash senior Brayden Curnutt (Kokomo, IN/Western) placed sixth out of 325 competitors at Saturday's Franklin College Grizzlies Invitational. The senior finished the 8,000-meter course in 25:33.2 to help the Little Giants finish eighth out of 21 teams at the meet. Curnutt's time was the third-quickest finish of his career.
 
Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week – Sophie Porter, DePauw
DePauw senior Sophie Porter (Westfield, IN/Westfield) placed third out of 238 runners at the Franklin College Grizzlies Invitational on Saturday. The senior finished the 6,000-meter run in 22:23.75 to lead the Tigers to a first-place finish. DePauw won the meet by a 33-point margin.
 
Field Hockey Athlete of the Week – Devyn Groves, Wittenberg
Wittenberg junior Devyn Groves (La Grange, KY/Oldham County Senior) recorded a hat trick to lead the Tigers to a 4-2 win over Sewanee on Sunday. The junior scored the first goal of the game just three minutes into play. Groves found the back of the net for the second time during the third quarter to put Wittenberg ahead 3-1. She then halted Sewanee's comeback attempt as she completed the hat trick less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. Groves finished the game with six points and three goals on four shot attempts.
 
Football Offensive Athlete of the Week – Tyler Bell, Kenyon
Kenyon sophomore Tyler Bell (North Dinwiddie, VA/Dinwiddie) provided over half of the team's points in the Owls 13-6 win over Bluffton on Saturday. After being down by six points in the first quarter, Bell nailed a 25-yard field goal, a 41-yard field goal and an extra point during the second quarter to give Kenyon its first win of the season.
 
Football Defensive Athlete of the Week – Samuel Ringer, Wabash
Wabash junior Samuel Ringer (Lawrenceburg, IN/East Central) broke the NCAC record for the longest fumble return with a 100-yard return to end the first half of the Little Giant's 31-0 victory over St. Norbert. With the 100-yard return, Ringer broke the former Wabash fumble return record set by BJ Hammer in 2000 (93 yards) and the school record for a fumble return for a touchdown set by Ethan Buresh in 2015 (75 yards). Ringer's return edged out the former NCAC record of 99 yards set by Cisco Brooks-Church of Oberlin in 1994 against Wittenberg. In addition, the junior finished the game with three total tackles, which included two solo stops, to help Wabash record its first defensive shutout since 2019.
 
Men's Golf Athlete of the Week – Andrew Carey, Wooster
Wooster sophomore Andrew Carey (Rockford, IL/Guilford) tied for seventh place with a 4-over-par 148 (77-71) at the mostly-Div. II Malone University Fall Invitational. After sitting in 20th at the conclusion of the first round, Carey carded a collegiate-best 1-under-par by tallying four birdies on the back nine holes to move up 13 places.
 
Women's Golf Athlete of the Week – Audrey Nichols, Ohio Wesleyan
Ohio Wesleyan first-year Audrey Nichols (Uniontown, OH/Lake) placed third at the Manchester Fall Invite after she carded an 82 to finish five strokes behind the medalist. The Battling Bishops tied for the team title with a round of 346 but lost the tiebreaker to finish second in team standings.
 
Men's Soccer Athlete of the Week – Jose Escalante, Wabash
Wabash junior Jose Escalante (Merida, Venezuela/Speedway (IN)) propelled the Little Giants to a 3-0 week with wins over Rose-Hulman (2-1), Alma (3-1), and Bluffton (3-1) to earn the 2024 Robbie Dreher Classic title. In the first game of the classic, Escalante scored in the 29th minute versus the Fightin' Engineers, helping the Little Giants earn their first win over their in-state rival since 2015. He also added an assist in the team's victory over the Scots on Saturday. During the championship game versus the Beavers, Escalante scored the first goal in the 15th minute of the match before adding another goal four minutes later, both of which were unassisted. On the week, Escalante tallied three goals and one assist in 182 minutes of play.
 
Women's Soccer Athlete of the Week – Grace Koperna, Wittenberg
Wittenberg senior Grace Koperna (Macedonia, OH/Nordonia) scored the game-winning goal to knock off No. 15 Calvin 1-0. The goal came with just 11 minutes left to play in regulation. The senior helped lead the Tigers' defense that kept the Knights scoreless and gave Calvin just its third loss in two years.
 
Women's Volleyball Athlete of the Week – Aura Barinas, Kenyon
Kenyon junior Aura Barinas (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Northfield Mt. Hermon) and the Owls went 3-2 on the week after going five sets in each of their contests. Kenyon recorded hard-fought wins over Geneva, Penn St.-Behrend, and Houghton and tough losses to Bluffton and Fredonia. Against the Beavers, Barinas recorded 10 kills and 14 digs, marking her first double-double of the week. She tallied her second double-double in the win over the Golden Tornadoes where she notched 25 kills and 11 digs, while hitting .360 percent. Her third double-double of the week came in the Owl's victory against the Lions where Barinas collected 15 kills and 17 digs. Over five games, Barinas totaled 78.5 points, 71 kills, 56 digs, seven assists, five aces, and one block.
 
NCAC Milestones & Records (Sept. 3-8)
 
Denison, Field Hockey – Sophomore Claire Willoughby (Chapel Hill, NC/Chapel Hill) recorded her second-career multi-goal game after tallying two goals in the Big Red's 4-2 win over Concordia Wisconsin.
 
DePauw, Football – With the 57-14 win over Rose-Hulman, DePauw extended its record season football win streak to 15 which broke the previous mark of 14 set in 1933-34.
 
DePauw, Volleyball – Sophomore Kaiden Harrington (Ellettsville, IN/Edgewood) was named to the all-tournament team at the Illinois Wesleyan Tournament after recording 29 kills over three matches. Harrington hit .258, averaged 2.42 kills per set, and totaled just seven errors on 85 attempts.
 
Hiram, Volleyball – Senior Cate Maguire (Austintown, OH/Austintown Fitch) recorded 15 kills in the Terriers 3-0 win over Washington and Jefferson to mark the most kills in a single three-set match in her career. The right-side hit .737 to mark the third-highest career mark for any match.
 
Kenyon, Field Hockey – Senior Megan Lydon (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan) secured 29 saves in Kenyon's loss to Rochester. The total shattered her previous career-high (17) and ranks as the sixth-most saves in program history, just five short of Kenyon's high-water mark.
 
Oberlin, Men's Soccer – The Yeomen went 1-1 on the week after they defeated Chatham (3-1) and fell to Grove City (2-1). Senior Toby Wells-Zimmerman (Washington, DC/Sidwell Friends) scored two goals in Oberlin's two games this week, marking the second time in his career he has scored in back-to-back games, having scored three in straight games between September 17-28, 2022, against Alma, Wabash, and Allegheny.
 
Wabash, Football – Junior Xavier Tyler (Evansville, IN/Reitz Memorial) ran for 70 yards on a career-best 25 carries with two touchdowns in his first career start to help Wabash to a 31-0 victory over St. Norbert on Saturday.
 
Wittenberg, Women's Soccer – With the 1-0 win over No. 15 Calvin, Wittenberg earns its first win over a nationally ranked opponent while under Head Coach Katie Robinson's helm.
 
Wooster, Football – The Fighting Scots defeated Wilmington 56-13 on Saturday, marking the most points in its season-opening game since 1890.