WEBSTER GROVES – Running through Friday, June 17, Webster Athletics will unveil its Gorlok Award winners for the 2019-20 school year each day leading to announcing Webster Athletics Department Award winners on Saturday, June 19.
This is the third consecutive year that Webster Athletics has awarded the 10 ESPY-styled awards that were created by the Webster Athletics Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Once again, those awards were nominated and voted on my Webster's coaches and athletic department staff members.
After unveiling the winners of the best action and funniest action photo on Monday, the record breaking performance and top sixth man on Tuesday and best teammate and breakthrough athlete from the 2020-21 school year on Wednesday, today's two Gorlok Award winners being recognized are the Best Win and Best Play from the 2020-21 school year.
The Best Win of the 2020-21 season goes to the women's tennis team and its come-from-behind 5-4 win over Greenville in the championship match of the 2021 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament held at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park. The win over Greenville helped the Gorloks earn its fifth all-time SLIAC Tournament title and first since 2018.
In the SLIAC Tournament win against Greenville, the match came down to the third set at No. 1 singles between Webster sophomore
Erin Brezovar (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) and Greenville's Mireia Birosta. Brezovar lost the first set, 6-1, before rallying to earn a 7-6 (5) win in the second set to set up a third set to determine the match winner. At one point in the third set, Brezovar trailed 40-15 in a game, before rallying to win the game and eventually post a 6-4 win in the set to seal Webster's win over the Panthers.
Greenville opened the match by winning two of the three doubles matches to hold a 2-1 lead heading to singles, In singles, Greenville led 3-1 after winning at No. 2 singles, before junior
Emma Ferguson (Troy, Mo./Troy Buchanan) won at the No. 4 spot and freshman
Bailey Higgins (Jefferson City, Mo./Jefferson City) won at the No. 5 spot to tie the match at 3-all. Senior
Maggie Federhofer (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) would give Webster a 4-3 lead in the match with her 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 3 singles, before sophomore
Emily Casey (Duluth, Minn./Marshall) fell 6-1, 7-5 at No. 6 singles to Samantha Siefken to tie the match.
Along with women's tennis team's win against Greenville in the SLIAC Tournament final, the other finalist for Best Win of the Year was the softball team's 4-1 win on March 24 at WashU that was sealed on a three-run homer in the top of the sixth inning off the bat of fifth-year senior centerfielder
Abby Burroughs (Edwardsville, Ill./Triad) and the men's soccer's team 2-1 win over Westminster College in the finals of the SLIAC Tournament at World Wide Technology Soccer Park on April 24.
Meanwhile, the Best Play of the Year goes senior men's track and field All-American sprinter
Jacob Ridenhour (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville) and his school record run in the 60-meter dash at the 2021 SLIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships on Feb. 27. At the meet, Ridenhour ran a school record time of 6.81 in the 60-meter dash in just his second competition of the indoor season. The time was just .05 off the Top 10 all-time in Division III history and helped him finish as the Division III national leader in the event during the indoor track season. The performance earned Ridenhour the SLIAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year as he won two gold medals and a silver medal at the championships as along with his gold in the 60-meter dash, he also finished first in the 200-meter dash and was the anchor leg on Webster's second place 4-x-400 meter relay team.
Click
here for Ridenhour's school record run in the 60-meter dash at the SLIAC Indoor Track Championships.
Along with Ridenhour's school record 60-meter dash time at the 2021 SLIAC Indoor Championships, the other finalists for the Best Play of the Year was the first goal in the 2020-21 SLIAC Men's Soccer Tournament final against Westminster College scored by freshman forward/midfielder
Mark Moore (Hillsboro, Mo./Hillsboro), a diving catch on a ball lined off the bat of Tim Van Kirk and subsequent double play at third base by fourth-year baseball junior shortstop
Matt Staker (El Cajon, Calif./Saint Augustine) in Webster's 3-2 loss to WashU on April 11 and senior men's basketball forward
Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) making a block and then taking the ball the length of the floor for a dunk right before halftime in Webster's 133-117 home win on March 12 against Greenville University.
Here is the schedule for the other awards this week that will be announced:
Monday (June 14) – Best Action photo (Lexi Young and Raven Ritrovato – Competitive Cheerleading) and Funniest Action photo (
Ben Aziz – Men's Soccer)
Tuesday (June 15) – Best Record Setting Performance (Men's Golf and Will Hocker) and Sixth Man of the Year (
Mark Moore - Men's Soccer)
Wednesday (June 16) – Breakthrough Athlete of the Year (
Jordan Smevoll - Baseball) and Best Teammate (Darieana Hunter - Women's Basketball)
Today (June 17) – Best Play of the Year and Best Win of the Year
Friday (June 18) – Golden Gorlok Award and Most Well-Rounded Team
On Saturday (June 19), the department's five major awards – Inspiration, Scholar Athlete, Chancellor's Award and the Outstanding Male and Female Athletes of the Year will be announced, along a list of the 2020-21 senior student-athletes.
