One of the Hillsdale College athletic department's best academic years in its history earned more recognition on Wednesday.

The Chargers saw 98 student-athletes earn D2ADA Academic Achievement Awards for the 2025-26 school year. The Academic Achievement Awards, now in its 19th year, is a program that recognizes the academic accomplishments of student-athletes at the Division II level.

Overall, a total of 21,000-plus student-athletes were recognized from 179 institutions for the 2025-26 Academic Achievement Awards. 

Historically, 211,256 total student-athletes have been recognized since the inception of the awards program.

Hillsdale's 98 honorees helped the Great Midwest Athletic Conference earn a spot among the nine NCAA DII leagues with over 1,000 honorees on the year. The G-MAC's 1,210 total honorees ranked sixth overall among all NCAA DII conferences.

"In year 19, this program continues its dedication to celebrating the exceptional student-athletes who define excellence across our Division II landscape," said Jenn Bell, associate VP and director of athletics at Converse University and current D2 ADA President. "We're proud to recognize more than 21,000 deserving student-athletes from 179 institutions, reflecting the tremendous dedication within our division — not only in athletics, but in the classroom as well. This year's submissions, from both individuals and schools, serve as a testament to the Division II way. Thanks to the administrators who nominated these outstanding individuals, and much-deserved congratulations to all this year's recipients."

To qualify for this honor, the following must occur:

• The AD MUST BE a CURRENT dues-paying member of the D2 ADA.
• Student-athlete must have … 
  • a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale
  • ave attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college level work
  • have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year

Hillsdale's 98 honorees are the highest number of recorded D2ADA award winners in program history, surpassing 97 in 2021-22. The Chargers posted a program record 3.47 cumulative GPA for the spring semester in 2026, and continue to excel academically.

The list of Hillsdale College honorees for 2026:
 

Noah Larrick Football Sr Jacob Meyer Men's Basketball Sr Evelyn Overlease Women's Track and Field So Thomas Holm Men's XC/Track and Field So Megan Roberts Women's XC/Track and Field Jr William Winsor Men's XC/Track and Field So Luke Penola Football So Isabel Ondracek Women's Swimming Jr William Carrico Football So Josephine TeSlaa Women's Volleyball Sr Erika Mogelvang Women's Track and Field Sr Chloe Pierce Women's Volleyball Sr Luke Miller Baseball So Jude Barton Football Sr Ellie Fles Women's Volleyball So Aidan Kowatch Football Sr Emma Sather Softball Sr Daniel Higdon Baseball Jr Oliver Marshall Men's Golf Jr Josh Novak Baseball Jr Ellis Klanduch Men's Tennis Jr Hunter Sperling Football Sr Ella Byrum  Women's Volleyball So Dimitry Ermakov Men's Track and Field Sr Michael App Men's Basketball Jr Inez McNichols Women's Swimming Jr Garrett Bolte Men's Basketball Sr Caroline Lanicek Women's Volleyball So Brady Bohner Football So Ashton Janowski Men's Basketball Sr Michael McCollum Men's Basketball Jr Israel Gentry Men's Basketball So Emma Ruhlman Women's Basketball Sr Rhys Woodard Men's XC/Track and Field Jr Kyle Riffel Football Sr Joseph Schmidt Football Sr Jackson Piascek Men's Golf So Sydney Pnacek Women's Basketball Sr Daniel Johnson Men's XC/Track and Field So Gracelynn Kelly Softball Jr Hannah Baker Women's Volleyball So Ella Schafer Women's Swimming/Track and Field So Aubrie Wilson Women's Track and Field So Shea Ruddy Football Jr Robert Matteson Baseball So Anna Lamoreaux Women's Track and Field Sr Mason Moulton Football So Irene Del Castro Saavedra Women's Swimming Jr Caleb Youngstedt Men's XC/Track and Field Jr Zachary Self Men's XC/Track and Field So Ryan Strasser Football Sr Medleigh Danchak Softball Jr Marcelina Gorny Women's Volleyball Jr Ella Malone Women's Swimming So Sydney Davis Softball Jr Zachary Harris Football Sr Ross Kuhn Men's Track and Field Sr Adalene Sysum Women's Volleyball Sr Savannah Fraley Women's XC/Track and Field Jr Peter McDevitt Football So John Heyden Men's Track and Field So Briana Rees Women's Tennis So Anna Chellman Softball Sr Alyson Early Women's Swimming Jr Ryan Papazov Men's Tennis So Rocco Tenuta Baseball Jr Yvonne Botha Women's Swimming So Dylan Whitfield Baseball So Ben Haas Men's Track and Field Sr Zachary Affholter Football So Francesca Federici Women's Track and Field Sr Emory Braswell Women's Volleyball Sr Rotem Andegeko Women's Swimming Sr Ameera Wilson Women's Track and Field Sr Noah Gazmin Men's XC/Track and Field Jr Gaard Swenson Baseball So Gianna Lodice Women's Track and Field Jr Connor Pratt Football Sr Allison Kuzma Women's XC/Track and Field So Nicholas Maziarz Football So Jonah Jensen Football Jr Braeden Chiles Football So Amelia Lutz Women's Track and Field Jr Aaron Jasiak Baseball Jr Connor Quake Football Sr Brenden Smith Baseball So Ryan O'Rourke Men's Golf Jr Nathaniel Osborne Men's XC/Track and Field Sr Katherine Kennedy Women's Track and Field So Connor Stonebraker Men's Basketball Jr Caleb Yarian Men's Basketball Sr Alejandro Cordero Lopez Men's Tennis So William Collins Football Sr Jonathan Metzger Football Jr Madison Greene Women's Basketball So Lauren Liguori Softball So Isabella Spinazze Women's Tennis Sr Cole McWhinnie Men's Basketball Sr