Full Great Midwest Presidents' Cup Standings
BLUE ASH, Ohio - By garnering over 92 percent of the calculated points possible and nine different tournament titles, Hillsdale received the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Presidents' Cup for the 2017-18 academic year.
The Chargers received the crystal hardware with Great Midwest Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representatives Austin Sandusky (football) and Allie Dewire (women's basketball) in attendance.
Hillsdale athletic director Don Brubacher also accepted the award on behalf of the Chargers coaching staff, student-athletes and administrators, as part of the Great Midwest Spring Awards Banquet at the Cooper Creek Event Center.
The 2017-18 year marked a new era in the sixth year of the league's history as 13 full member institutions and three associate members battled for postseason glory in 22 different championships.
2018-19 will also introduce a new segment in the Great Midwest timeline with the addition of its 14th member institution, Tiffin University.
The league enjoyed different NCAA Championship Midwest Regional runs, newly-minted All-American honors, individual national champs and more academic awards than any other previous season.
In participating championships, Hillsdale didn't finish lower than third in any of conference tournaments. The Chargers were the top overall seed in only three of the nine Great Midwest Championship wins, including volleyball, men's tennis and women's tennis.
In many instances, Hillsdale overcame considerable odds to win Great Midwest Championships while going into the brackets not necessarily as the favored No. 1 seeds. The Chargers proved their postseason mettle with the stakes raised, rising to win women's basketball as the No. 5 seed, baseball as the No. 3 North Division seed and softball as the No. 4 seed.
Women's cross country belonged to the Chargers along with a sweep of the indoor and outdoor track and field championship offerings. Key names like Hannah McIntyre, Allysen Eads, Zalonya Eby, Rachael Tolsma, Chloe Ohlgren, Arena Lewis, Abbie Porter, Carmen Botha and many more, surfaced as standouts among each sport's respective season.
The baseball and softball campaigns ceremoniously closed out the spring with more memorable moments for the Hillsdale athletic department. In both instances, the Chargers poured out of the dugout with wins over Kentucky Wesleyan to advance to the national tournament with an automatic-qualifying bid.
The men's basketball team also made the championship final at Findlay as runner-up with the No. 3 seed.
Hillsdale secured additional honors with the Great Midwest Player of the Year honors in volleyball (Paige VanderWall), men's tennis (Milan Mirkovic) and women's tennis (Halle Hyman). The Chargers also earned various Great Midwest Freshman of the Year awards in the sports of women's cross country (Maryssa Depies), women's swimming and diving (Katherine Heeres), volleyball (Lindsey Mertz), indoor/outdoor women's track and field (Zalonya Eby) and women's tennis (Hannah Cimpeanu).
The Chargers ended a streak of four consecutive Presidents' Cup trophies won by Cedarville. The Yellow Jackets finished fourth in this year's final standings behind runner-up Findlay and third-place Walsh.