DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The College of St. Scholastica Athletics Department held its seventh annual Saints Sports Awards Sunday night in the Reif Gymnasium of the Burns Wellness Commons.
 
The event was originally supposed to be held on April 12 in the Mitchell Auditorium, but an April snowstorm postponed the event and it was re-located back to the Reif Gymnasium, where the previous six award ceremonies were held.
 
The Saints Sports Awards were established in 2013 to recognize all of St. Scholastica's 500-plus student-athletes' accomplishments throughout the year. The Oscar-like, formal atmosphere features pictures on the gold carpet, photo booths, videos and more. The award categories featured nominees from the 2018 spring season, along with the fall and winter seasons from the current academic year.
 
For the second time in the event's short history, students were the Masters of Ceremonies as Erika Badger and Zachary Verduzco led the event.  Awards were handed out for Male/Female Rookie of the Year, Male/Female Athlete of the Year, Male/Female Team of the Year, Male/Female Performance of the Year, Male/Female Game of the Year, Male/Female Career Achievement, John Baggs Sportsmanship Award, Male/Female Scholar-Athlete and Berntson Blue and Gold Support.
 
Women's Hockey was the big winner on the evening collecting five awards. The team was named the Female Team of the Year, while Amber Tilander (International Falls, Minn./Falls HS) was named the Female Rookie of the Year, Rachel Anderson (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) the Female Athlete of the Year, Lexi Thomeczek (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph Academy (St. Louis AAA Blues)) had the Female Performance of the Year and Alexia Klaas (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Denfeld HS (Minnesota-Duluth)) received the John Baggs Sportsmanship award.
 
Nordic Skiing's Emil Book Bratbak (Lillehammer, Norway/Lillehammer) collected both the Male Rookie of the Year, as well as, the Male Athlete of the Year awards. Men's Basketball received the Male Game of the Year award for its win at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Brandon Newman (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) took home the Male Career Achievement Award.
 
Arica Sheff (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet HS), current interim coach of the St. Scholastica Golf Programs, was the recipient of the Female Career Achievement award and Women's Tennis earned the Female Game of the Year award for its win over the University of Northwestern (Minn.) in the 2018 UMAC Tournament championship.
 
2018 regular season champion Men's Tennis was named the Male Team of the Year and cross country's Isaac Boedigheimer (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet HS) took home the Male Performance of the Year award.
 
Seniors Donovan Blatz (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) from the Football and Track & Field programs and Volleyball's Emily Bounds (Hill City, Minn./Hill City HS) received the Scholar-Athlete awards. Finally, former interim Director of Athletics and recently retired professor Tony Barrett received the Berntson Blue and Gold Award.

The Athletics Department would like to thank Duluth Superior Trophy & Awards for the trophies, Blackwoods for the food catering and Sound Central for all the technical equipment to make the event possible.

For the complete list of winners see the list below as well as links to pictures from the evening thanks to Derek Montgomery Photography and the XX minutes of video footage for the show.

 

Male Rookie of the Year: Emil Book Bratbak (Lillehammer, Norway/Lillehammer) (Nordic Skiing)	Female Rookie of the Year: Amber Tilander (International Falls, Minn./Falls HS) (Hockey)
Male Scholar-Athlete Recipient: Donovan Blatz (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) (Football/Track & Field)	Female Scholar-Athlete Recipient: Emily Bounds (Hill City, Minn./Hill City HS) (Volleyball)
Male Performance of the Year:  Isaac Boedigheimer (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet HS) (Cross Country)	Female Performance of the Year:  Lexi Thomeczek (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph Academy (St. Louis AAA Blues)) (Hockey)
Male Game of the Year:  Men's Basketball at UW-Eau Claire	Female Game of the Year:  Tennis vs. Northwestern
Male Athlete of the Year: Emil Book Bratbak (Lillehammer, Norway/Lillehammer) (Nordic Skiing)	Female Athlete of the Year: Rachel Anderson (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) (Hockey)
Male Team of the Year: Men's Tennis	Female Team of the Year:  Hockey
Male Career Achievement Award: Brandon Newman (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) (Basketball)	Female Career Achievement Award: Arica Sheff (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet HS) (Golf)
John Baggs Sportsmanship Award:  Alexia Klaas (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Denfeld HS (Minnesota-Duluth)) (Women's Hockey)	Berntson Blue and Gold Award:  Tony Barrett