RIVER FOREST, ILL. -- After an eventful year full of buzzerbeaters, home run walk offs, and rivalry victories, the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) athletic department celebrated the student-athletes with the annual student-athlete appreciation banquet, better known as The Charlies.
Kicking off this year's banquet was a special performance from the CUC Strength and Conditioning Coach
Ken Howard. Howard, who produces music by the name of True, performed a medley of his songs, including a choreographed performance with the CUC Dance team. To hear the latest music from True,
click here.
The Charlies
Each year students, coaches, and staff submit nominations for the categories listed below which become the official ballot for The Charlies. After tallying each nomination, the final ballot is put together with the top nominations for the best and brightest of the year within CUC Athletics. After a week of voting, 188 final votes were tallied to deliver the winners.
Teammate of the Year: Ben Hardy (Football)
- A first-time nominee, Hardy earned this honor after being a large component in the success of the program, both on and off the field. He has helped to instill a positive environment for his team and supply leadership and encouragement for everyone around him.
Coach of the Year: Andrew Chizzo (Track and Field)
- For the second consecutive year, Coach Chizzo secured Coach of the Year. Though his second year as Coach of the Year, Chizzo earns his third overall award after being named the 2023 Assistant Coach of the Year. This season, Chizzo has led his team to numerous broken school records, a plethora of personal records, and spearheaded bringing back the Cougar Invitational, CUC's home track meet. Chizzo continues to lead his team to the 2025 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Outdoor Championships this weekend.
GA/Assistant of the Year: Bella Archuletta (Softball)
- Coach Bella is in her first season with CUC Softball as the Graduate Assistant, after spending a four-year career as a player for the team. So far, she has helped Cougar Softball to a 21-14-1 overall record and a 14-6 record in NACC play, helping the team clinch their first trip to the NACC Tournament since 2018. Archuletta serves as the first base coach for the Cougars while working with the hitters and infielders.
Comeback Player of the Year: Jonathan Aungst (Football)
- Aungst broke his wrist during his sophomore season and after recovering, came back to lead the team in pass breakups and interceptions for his junior year. During the 2024 season, Aungst appeared in all 10 games recording 25 tackles, 19 of which were solo.
Freshman of the Year: Jamel Goins (Track and Field)
- In his freshman season, Goins picked up first place finishes in the 400m and the 4x400m Relay while earning NACC All-Conference accolades for the 2025 Indoor season. Goins also wrote his name in the CUC record book as a member of the record-breaking 4x400m relay team with a time of 3:22.52.
Senior of the Year: Jacob Collicott (Men's Basketball)
- Collicott took the year by storm, leading the team in minutes played, points, rebounds, steals, blocks, and assists. He Collicott led the NACC in rebounds per game with 10 per game, steals per game with 3.5, and total steals with 87. Collicott picked up NACC Defensive Player of the Year for his all around performance.
Female Athlete of the Year: Noor Sammour (Track and Field)
- Sammour has showed up and shown out in the jumps this season, breaking a 25-year-old school record in the high jump with a height of 1.53m. Sammour has picked up a number of impressive jumps this season, leading the team in both the long jump and the high jump.
Male Athlete of the Year: Jacob Collicott (Men's Basketball)
- Continuing his success, Collicott picked up 447 points on the season, 249 rebounds, 90 assists, 87 steals, and 26 blocks while picking up a career-high 34 points against McMurry College and a career-high 17 rebounds against Concordia University Wisconsin. During the season, Collicott was ranked second in the NCAA in steals per game with 4.14 while also finding his name ranked 8th for total steals and 31st for points per game.
Play of the Year: Joel Watts Overtime Buzzerbeater in Texas
Game of the Year: Men's Volleyball vs Dominican
Team of the Year: Track and Field
- The Track and Field team has wasted no time setting records and putting up exciting performances. With an impressive seven school records already broken and 40 NACC All-Conference performances, the team continues to strive for greatness. On the year, the team has seen more than 100 personal records, an important benchmark to measure individual growth for the athletes. Additionally, the team hosted their first home meet since 2019, where both the men and women's teams placed first with a total of 236 team points and 186 team points, respectively.
Team Academic Award: Women's Volleyball
- This award is given based on who earned the highest GPA as a team. For the eighth consecutive year, the Women's Volleyball team earned the Team Academic Award with a collective 3.55 GPA for the academic year.
Team Community Service Award: Women's Basketball
- For the Community Service Award, the team with the most community outreach volunteer events win for their consistent effort to give back. This year the award was earned by the CUC women's basketball team, who made numerous contributions to our community, both CUC and the surrounding area. They volunteered to package Christmas gifts for children, they donated socks to cancer patients, they hosted a middle school basketball team for a day, they ran a clothing drive for victims of the California fires, and they covered the CUC parking garage with inspiring notes on each car.
Cougar Cup: Women's Volleyball
- The Cougar Cup Trophy is awarded each year to the team that demonstrates excellence in the following categories: academics, athletic performance, community services, and participation. Things like GPA, Scholar Athletes, NACC placement, post-season success, service projects, and attendance at events on campus are all recorded throughout the year. The team that excels across all of these categories is ultimately awarded the Cougar Cup Trophy, symbolizing their well rounded excellence both on and off their playing field. This year, it was an extremely close race, but Women's Volleyball secured the award for the fourth time as the only CUC team to have won the award more than once.
Jim Egan Athletic Communications Student Worker of the Year Award: Peter Borkowski (Men's Lacrosse)
- The Jim Egan Award is given to a student worker who has taken great pride in their work and made the department, much like Jim Egan did when he served as the Sports Information Director at CUC. This year, the award was given to Peter Borkowski for his four years of dedication to the Athletic Communications Department. During his time, Borkowski had a hand in almost every aspect of Athletic Communications, taking photos, running table, operating scoreboard, doing PA, writing recaps, running games and events on his own, broadcasting, and more. Since graduating in the winter, Borkowski has moved on to serve as the Atheltic Communications Graduate Assistant at Southern Illinois University.
Terri Woods Sports Medicine Student Worker of the Year Award: Tegan Oas (Track and Field)
- The Terri Woods Award is given to a student worker who exemplifies what it means to give to his or her student athlete community, as Terri Woods did when she served as the Head Athletic Trainer at CUC. This year, the award was given to Tegan Oas for her three years of dedication to the Sports Medicine Department. During her time, Oas has gone above and beyond to step in where needed. From maintaining the athletic training room to early morning practices and game coverage. Oas will be graduating this semester and moving on to continue her education and obtain her Masters of Athletic Training at North Central College.
A.W. Gross Award: The A.W. Gross Distinguished Senior Scholar-Athlete Award annually honors Concordia University Chicago senior student athletes that demonstrate all-around proficiency in academics, athletics, character, conduct, leadership and co-curricular activities.
Male Recipient: Michael Kasik (Baseball)
- Kasik epitomizes the phrase scholar-athlete. Having been on the Dean's List during every semester of his four years at CUC as well as a NACC Scholar Athlete each year, he also has the athletic accolades to accompany. Recording over 900 putouts in his career, Kasik has earned NACC All-Conference First Team, CSC Academic All-District, ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Third Team, and CSC Academic All-American Third Team. Kasik will graduate Summa Cum Laude this semester wth a BS in Accounting.
Female Recipient: Tegan Oas (Track and Field)
- Oas has also been named to the Dean's List during every semester of her four years at CUC while earning NACC Scholar Athlete each year as well. Oas has competed in four sports during her time at CUC in softball, cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. She has been named All-Conference seven times for her achievement in the 800m, 4x400m relay, and the distance medley relay in both indoor and track. She has been named to the CSC Academic All-District Team and the USTFCCCA All-Academic team.
Terry-Schubert Award: This award is given to a senior student-athlete who presents a positive attitude towards athletics and Christian living, serves and contributes to the best interests of his/her team, and demonstrates concern for the Concordia campus and local communities.
Male Recipient: Tyler Dorsch (Baseball)
- Dorsch is a member of his team's leadership group, SAAC Executive Board, and Residence Life at CUC where he has grown as a leader through his service to others. He has primarily focused on promoting leadership, service, networking, and professional development while instilling a positive culture within his team. He has consistently put the team and his peers ahead of himself and strives to hold himself accountable. Dorsch has grown in his faith throughout his time at Concordia, serving this past year as a Faith Delegate within Residence Life where he leads weekly Bible study with his teammates. He was recently confirmed in his faith and was also awarded the Concordia Golden Paw Legacy Leadership Award.
Female Recipient: Natalie Gallardo (Dance)
- Gallardo has been recognized for her sportsmanship, friendship, and overall positivity. Often seen at athletic events across campus, she is reliable and the first to volunteer to help any team or support any event. As an excellent servant leader and community builder, Gallardo has been a voice of reason and assists as a mediator when conflicts arise. She has spent countless hours volunteering at her church as a member of the choir and support staff in the kitchen while displaying her Christ-like love for others around her. During her career at CUC, she has been involved in WCGR, The Spectator, worked for Business Services, and has been a member of both SAAC and LSU.
A special thanks to the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SACC) for putting together the annual event as well as Sodexo, Physical Plant, CougarNet, and Athletic Communications for their contributions! As we say goodbye to many incredible athletes and look forward to many more coming back in the fall, we thank everyone at CUC Athletics for such an incredible year!
