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Alex Graves from SIU perfectly embodies the role of Hardest Worker and I think he is well deserving of this award. Year after year, Alex is the hardest worker on our team and he does it without being asked. There are few people in the collegiate ski community as dedicated and passionate as Alex. SIU would be nowhere near where it’s at today without his endless devotion to the team. He continues to shock me by reaching out to new companies to get us free equipment (shout-out s-lines!), taking endless sets to improve his skiing, and taking time to constantly fix our course and jump. Alex also works extremely hard to grow the camaraderie of our team, always planning nights out on the town or hockey games on the ponds around campus during the winter. The amount of work Alex has put into the team and his own skiing is well deserving of recognition, and I know he would be honored to be selected for this award.
I truly believe that SIU (Southern Illinois University) deserves to be Team Of The Year. When I joined the team my sophomore year we barely made it to regionals, only qualifying because the team above us had failed to get all of their paperwork in. Just three years later we qualified for nationals, taking 8th at regionals, and placing 5th at D2 nationals!! This was our team’s #1 goal and it finally came to life, making university history on top of it because SIU had never qualified for nationals in the 40+ years of being a team. SIU also hosted it’s first tournament in 15 years last spring! We had to completely rebuild a site that had been abandoned for over a decade, including new courses and restoring our jump!
We have had to overcome more obstacles and hurdles than any other team: just four years ago we had three active members, no team boat, no trailer for travel, no ski lake to practice at, and some of the furthest drives to tournaments with our average drive being about 6hrs – but we always showed up. We’ve received amazing help (shout-out Dean Chappell-IL, Bob Harris-KY, Jeff Meyers-IL, and Dave Adams-IL), but for the most part SIU has been the underdog in just about every aspect of the game, and we’ve fought our way to the top becoming one of the strongest and healthiest teams in the Midwest. Go DawgsI nominate Matthew Freitag from GVSU for Most Outstanding Senior Male. Yes Matthew is my brother, so I’m a little bias.. however, I also have the privilege of being close friends with other presidents and captains from different teams, and I can say that Matthew was the gold standard for presidents and seniors this year.
Matthew has far exceeded every requirement and expectation of an outstanding senior male. He was voted into presidency while also being a student in pre-med, working at the hospital downtown, and being a TA for one of his medical classes. Safe to say he was busy, but he always made time for his team and found a way to put them first.
His biggest achievement this year was getting their team a new (2017) MasterCraft Prostar!! He had countless meetings with the school and local dealer to make this deal happen. But getting a fancy boat isn’t what defines Matthew as an outstanding senior male, and it’s not what his team will remember him for. Matthew was the rock of his team. Always getting the truck and boat to the river so his team could practice, driving most of the day while leaving little time to practice himself, but still being the top skier for his team tournament after tournament. Matthew organized the Allentucky Tournament, team bonding trips, made sure his team was ready for every tournament, and acted like a true leader younger members could look up to. I’ll stop there but there’s so much more that Matthew has done that makes him the perfect nominee for Outstanding Senior Male.