For more photos, go to http://wncccougars.albumpost.com/bluffsWestern Nebraska Community College’s Fatima Balza and Francisco Cruz picked up the top awards at the WNCC athletic banquet Sunday evening at Cougar Place.
Balza earned the female athlete of the year honor as well as the picking up the Most Valuable Player award for the volleyball team. Balza, a sophomore, will graduate May 16 and will head to Penn State University to play volleyball.
Cruz, a freshman, earned the male athlete of the year award. Cruz averaged nearly 16 points a game for the Cougar men’s basketball team last year, while leading the team in rebounds and 3-point percentage.
Athletic director Jennifer Pedersen said both athletes demonstrated character on and off the court. What Cruz does on and off the court should be something the young people can look up to.
“Every single young man comes through this program with hopes and dreams of where they want to end up in life. This is just a stepping stone of where they want to go,” she said. “So, I went out to the community and asked them what kids that have been here, been in your school, what kids have stayed late after a game and talked to parents, fans and signed autographs. What kid have come in and shot, or been at the field, longer. I wanted a student athlete that came here and hasn’t given us any trouble and is the epitome of what I want a student-athlete to become.”
Cruz was humbled by the honor.
“The award surprised be a lot because I didn’t expect it and I just felt great when I got it,” he said. “I really didn’t think I was going to get the award. I just want thank everybody for what they do for me and how they talk about me. I just want to thank everyone that supports me and the team.”
Cruz said the team does a lot of community work, something which he enjoys.
“We go and play with kids and eat with kids. We try to show everyone how much we appreciate everybody.”
As for Balza, she, too, was pleasantly shocked to receive both honors.
“it was a surprise for me,” she said. “Every effort I did for my team and every goal we reached together was not only for me, but for the team because I could not have made it without my team. It is for them that I get the MVP and if it wasn’t, I would have never got it.”
Balza enjoyed this season a lot more than her freshman year when they won the national championship
“I am really, really happy with everything I have done this year and everything we did. I am happy with my team, the coaches, and every single person that helped us,” she said. “I have to say that even last season when we won the national championship, that this year I am happier of the third place that we got this year because we were like a team and did everything together.
Volleyball coach Giovana Melo described Balza as an athlete that became like the mother of the team in helping them to a third place finish at the national tournament.
“I sat down with her once before we started and told her I was going to give her a role,” Melo said. “I said your role is to be a leader and get them to work hard, and do everything you possible can do to get this team prepared. I promise you that I will give you whatever it takes to make the team and you better. She is now going to one of the best volleyball programs in the country.”
All seven sports presented its MVP and Cougar Pride winners.
MVP winners included Balza in volleyball, Scott Bamforth in men’s basketball, Shaquilah Davis in women’s basketball, Josh Parker in baseball, Katie Groves in softball, Cesar Bazana in men’s soccer, and Terri Huntington in women’s soccer.
Cougar Pride winners included Gering’s Brooke BlomenKamp in volleyball, Chris Hamblin in men’s basketball, Tawny Drexler in women’s basketball, Brittany Chacon in softball, Elvis Garcia in baseball, Mark Zigray in men’s soccer, and Jaime Gastelle in women’s soccer.
Each of the coaches had good things to say about each Cougar Pride winner. Melo was very honored to give the honor to a Gering High graduate.
“Brooke has probably has 300 questions every single day. It is like question, question, question and I am not kidding,” Melo said. “She loves WNCC and loves wearing WNCC colors. She definitely is the pride of our team. She does not realize it, but she keeps this team together with her personality and the way she acts not just on the court but outside the court.”
Academic honors were also presented. The top grade point average for a female athlete belonged to Casey Simpson, of Nokomis, Saskatchewan, while the top GPA for a male athlete went to Ryan Dawson, of Front Royal, Venezuela. Dawson is a member of the men’s soccer team, while Simpson was a pitcher on the softball team.
The top team GPA academic awards went to the softball team for the fifth straight year.
The Cougar Award, an all-campus award which honors an athlete for his academics and community work, went to men’s basketball player Saul Torres, a freshman.
The Patron of the Year honors went to FBG Services and Carr-Trumbull Lumber.
Before the awards, Trisha Downing, the first female paraplegic to complete an Iron distance triathlon, talked about not giving up. Downing said that when she was competing in a half-marathon in Texas to qualify for the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii, she willed herself to finish the race. She finished in 8 hours, 29 minutes and the qualifying mark for the full triathlon was 8 hours, 30 minutes.
She said that there were many times, climbing up those steep hills in Texas, that she stopped and cried and said, “go get the car. I can’t do it.” She realized, from support from others helping her, that they didn’t want her to give up. That is why, or motto in every race is “it is not over until it is over.”
Since her car/bicycle accident in 2000, she had competed in 13 marathons and a variety of triathlons. She used a special hand bike to compete in the races and was named the Colorado Sportswomen of the year in 2007.
Complete List
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player – Fatima Balza, Merida, Venezuela
Cougar Pride – Brooke Blomenkamp, Gering, Neb.
Men’s Soccer
Most Valuable Player – Cesar Bazana, Americana, Brazil
Cougar Pride – Mark Zigray, Windsor, Colo.
Women’s Soccer
Most Valuable Player – Terri Huntington, Bluffdale, Utah
Cougar Pride – Jaime Gastelle, Ft. Collins, Colo.
Men’s Basketball
Most Valuable Player – Francisco Cruz, Nogales, Mexico (Abe Lincoln High in Denver)
Cougar Pride – Chris Hamblin, St. Paul., Minn.
Women’s Basketball
Most Valuable Player – Shaquilah Davis, Denver, Colo.
Cougar Pride – Tawny Drexler, Golden, Colo.
Baseball
Most Valuable Player – Josh Parker, Canberra, Australia
Cougar Pride – Elvis Garcia, Miami, Fla.
Softball
Most Valuable Player – Katie Groves, Bluffdale, Utah
Cougar Pride – Brittany Chacon, Broomfield, Colo.
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