WEBSTER GROVES – Over the past four days, Webster Athletics has been unveiling the winners of its third-annual Gorlok Awards for the 2020-21 school year and today the final two Gorlok Award winners will be announced before revealing the annual 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, the best teammate and breakthrough athlete on Wednesday, the best win and best play on Thursday, the final two Gorlok Award winners for 2020-21 are the Golden Gorlok and the Most Well-Rounded Team from this school year.
 
The Golden Gorlok Award, which is awarded to someone who bleeds navy and gold and positively represents their team and the athletics department, was won by fifth-year senior softball outfielder Breelyn Craig (Victorville, Calif./Trinidad State). Craig, who was a three-year member of the Gorloks softball team, moved from pitcher to outfield fulltime over the last year and at the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, she was named the Tournament MVP after hitting .778 in Webster's four games at the tournament. On the season, she played in 21 games and made 12 starts and hit .485 with 16 hits, nine runs scored, three doubles, one home run and 8 RBI. In addition, she was hit by three pitches, was 2-for-2 on stolen bases and recorded a .667 slugging percentage and a .526 on-base percentage. Along with being a member of the softball team, Craig, who was a transfer from Trinidad State College, also served a photographer the last three years for the Webster Athletics Department.
 
In her nomination for the Golden Gorlok Award from Webster head softball coach Katie Griffith says that in her time at Webster, Craig has been strong in the classroom, on the softball field and also her photography has helped propel our athletic teams at Webster through marketing.
 
"Bree has been involved with Webster Athletics since her arrival on campus three years whether on the softball field or taking photos of all the other athletic teams on campus and is very deserving of this honor," Griffith said.
 
Along with Craig, the other finalists for the Golden Gorlok Award were men's senior junior midfielder Justin Kohler (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) and senior men's track and field All-American sprinter Jacob Ridenhour (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville).
 
Meanwhile, the Most Well-Rounded Team goes to the 2021 Webster softball team. The criteria for the best team are a team that best embodies the Webster Athletics mission. The selected team excels in the classroom, is competitive in their sport and gives back to the community.
 
During the recently completed 2021 season, Webster posted a 21-12 overall record and finished second in the SLIAC with a 6-4 record. In addition to the 21 wins, which were the most for the program since winning 28 games in 2017, the Gorloks captured their first SLIAC Tournament title since 2009 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where they went 1-2. The Gorloks win over Wisconsin-Superior at the Waverly Regional was the first in the NCAA Tournament for a team from the SLIAC since 2014. The NCAA Tournament appearance was the first for Webster since 2009 and the 21 wins were five more than the team had won combined the past two seasons.  
 
The team completed the 2020-21 school year with a 3.71 team GPA and had nine players named to the SLIAC All-Academic Team and the Gorloks were ranked 15th in Division III in double plays turned and was in the top 10 percent in Division III in ERA and WHIP and was in the top 20 percent in fielding and total shutouts. In addition, the Gorloks were composed of players from seven states and two countries (Canada and Germany).
 
Seven Gorloks earned All-SLIAC honors, including fifth-year senior Abby Burroughs (Edwardsville, Ill./Triad), freshman utility player Kaelyn Kearney (Draper, Utah/Corner Canyon) and Griffith being named the SLIAC Player, Newcomer and Coach of the Year. In addition, Craig was the MVP of the SLIAC Tournament, while Burroughs and freshman shortstop Sidney Holtz (Taylorsville, Utah/Murray) were named NFCA/Easton All-Region selections and senior third baseman Alyssa McWilliams (Windsor, Colo./CSU-Pueblo) was named to the NCAA Waverly Regional All-Tournament Team.
  
Along with softball team, the other finalists for the Most Rounded Team were the baseball team and the men's soccer team.
 
Here is the schedule for the other awards this week that were 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 (Will Hocker and Men's Golf team) 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)
 
Thursday (June 17) – Best Play of the Year (Jacob Ridenhour – Men's Track) and Best Win of the Year (Women's Tennis team vs. Greenville in SLIAC Tournament final)
 
Today (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.