Lyons Pride

KEITH NORDSTROM PHOTOS

Gavin Viano, associate vice president for athletics and strategic programs, speaks during the annual awards ceremony in Emerson Gymnasium.

Bravo, Lyons!

The Wheaton Department of Athletics held its annual awards ceremony in Emerson Gymnasium on the evening of May 9. Highlighting the event was the announcing of the winners of the department’s eight major awards.

The ceremony was held virtually in 2020, and in 2021 only a few awards were handed out due to the pandemic. This was the first fully in-person ceremony since 2019.

Track and field athlete MargaretWalker and lacrosse player Mia Murray were co-recipients of the Dean Sue Alexander Female Senior Student-Athlete Award, while tennis player Ian Tracy claimed the Dean Sue Alexander Male Senior Student-Athlete Award.

Senior swimmer Lydia DaCorte earned the Debi Field ’70 Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year Award for the third time and senior baseball player Jake Studley received the Chad Yowell Outstanding Male Athlete Award. The Female Rookie of the Year Award went to Reese Hartmann of the swimming and diving team, while swimmer Sean Hill earned the Male Rookie of the Year honor.

Wheaton also handed out the Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, which is given to two graduating seniors with the highest GPA. This year’s honorees were softball player Sarah Pritchard and men’s soccer player Alex Nickerson.

Senior field hockey player

Margaret Walker ’22

Sean Hill ’25 Mia Murray ’22

Sarah Pritchard ’22 Ian Tracy ’22

Alex Nickerson ’22 Lydia DaCorte ’22

Nathalie Paquette ’22 Jake Studley ’22

Alexis Acosta ’22 Reese Hartmann ’25

Kevin Fischer ’22

Nathalie Paquette received the Claudia Friese Special Recognition Award. Senior women’s tennis player Alexis Acosta and senior men’s cross country/track and field member Kevin Fischer were co-recipients of the Lynn Miller Inspiration Award. —Wheaton athletics staff

Honoring baseball team seniors

Wheaton held a separate Commencement ceremony in Cole Memorial Chapel on Monday, May 23, for the baseball team seniors. They were away during the regular ceremony competing in the NCAA Tournament regional final hosted by State University of New York in Brockport, N.Y. The Lyons, who were ranked No. 22, lost to No. 21-ranked Baldwin Wallace, 11–6, on May 22.

NICKI PARDO

Anson Beard Jr. gets inducted as the newest member of the Yowell Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Friday, May 20, held in Beard Courtyard.

Sole 2022 hall of fame inductee in a class by himself

Anson Beard Jr., life trustee and member of the Board of Trustees since 1971, was inducted into the Wheaton Athletics Yowell Hall of Fame on May 20 during a ceremony in Beard Courtyard.

His selection recognizes decades of leadership support of the college’s athletics program, particularly at the beginning of the coeducational era at Wheaton.

In addition to his gift as a challenge to build the Beard Field House and efforts to raise the capital to construct the Haas Athletic Center, the impact of Beard’s philanthropy is evident throughout Wheaton’s campus, in living and learning spaces named in his honor. He also endowed the college’s first Trustee Scholarship and has supported Wheaton’s 20-year participation in the Posse Scholars program.

In her remarks, President Michaele Whelan described Beard as “perhaps, the greatest friend Wheaton College has ever known,” noting his “remarkable 50-plus years of leadership, service and support of this institution.”

Board Chair Janet Lindholm Lebovitz ’72 called Beard “a great motivator and the very model of an ideal board chair. You always lead by example, Anson, and you are, in my opinion, greatly responsible for both creating and nurturing the culture of philanthropy in the Wheaton community.”

Kim Spence ’04, head cross country and track and field coach, called Beard Field House a “home where Wheaton studentathletes make their first college friends and lifelong teammates. It’s not just where they train and compete; it’s where they feel supported and empowered.”

Spence, along with members of the track and field team, presented Beard with the Yowell Hall of Fame plaque, a framed Wheaton varsity letter and Lyons swag.

In accepting his induction, Beard said, “I was, at best, a mediocre athlete. Never had good footwork, and I was too small. But if raising money is a sport, then I guess I might have earned this award.”

The Yowell Hall of Fame honors individuals who, through their participation, support or interest, have made outstanding contributions to Wheaton athletics. The purpose is to promote greater interest in the Wheaton athletics program among alumni, students, parents and friends by honoring the legacy of those enshrined, who have contributed greatly to Wheaton’s success.