seventeenth Annual Bears Choice Awards Honors Mo State Athletes

SPRINGFIELD — On an evening when swimming and diving dominated the person awards, the Missouri State University softball staff took house the  prime honor on the seventeenth annual Bears Choice Awards, Monday (April 27) at Great Southern Bank Arena.
 
Coach Kasey Griffith’s squad was the highest level collector within the Bear Cup staff competitors for neighborhood service, tutorial excellence, athletic excellence, Bears supporting Bears, and private growth. It is the sixth time — and second yr in a row — Bears softball has earned the Bear Cup.

The sports activities of STUNT and acrobatics & tumbling have been additionally finalists for this yr’s Bear Cup honors. 

 

A lot of particular person student-athletes have been additionally acknowledged for his or her excellence as a part of the year-end celebration of Bears Athletics. Members of Missouri State’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) served because the presenters for the night, which included a red-carpet entry and awards ceremony. SAAC members additionally took the lead within the nomination, choice and voting processes for the occasion and the awards offered.

 

The occasion additionally included a tribute to the two,138 hours of volunteer and neighborhood service efforts by MSU’s student-athletes in the course of the 2025-26 tutorial yr. The whole financial impression of MSU’s efforts is estimated to be over $50,000 to the Springfield neighborhood.

Beach volleyball’s Amanda Cleary (Barrington, Ill.) turned the primary participant from her sport to be awarded the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award, whereas males’s swimming standout Alex Boutin (Allen Texas) was chosen because the recipient of the Bill Rowe Male Student-Athlete of the Year. Boutin is the fifth swimmer to win the coveted Rowe Award.

 

The Senior Student-Athletes of the Year have been males’s swimmer Lucas Chadwell (Springfield, Mo.) and Amanda Cleary (Barrington, Ill.) from seashore volleyball. The pair additionally delivered the night’s senior speeches.

The 2025-26 Junior Student-Athlete of the Year awards went to males’s swimmer Anderson Brown (Kyle, Texas) and ladies’s basketball sensation Kaemyn Bekemeier (Republic, Mo.). Sophomore Student-Athlete of the Year awards went to swimmer Mate Miszlai (Budapest, Hungary) and ladies’s basketball participant Lainie Douglas (Overland Park, Kan.), whereas this yr’s Freshman Student-Athlete of the Year honors got to NCAA swimming nationwide qualifier Kiefer Roemer (Bettendorf, Iowa) and Hannah Gardner (Springfield, Mo.) from volleyball. Douglas was named feminine freshman of the yr final yr.

This recently-added class of Graduate Student-Athletes of the Year have been offered to senior athletes who’ve already earned their undergraduate levels with prolific aim scorer Fumiya Shiraishi (Tokyo, Japan) from males’s soccer and counterpart Julia Kristensen (St. Charles, Mo.) of ladies’s soccer taking the honors. 

The Maroon and White Scholar-Athletes of the Year have been awarded to baseball standout Bobby Atkinson, who holds a 3.96 grade level common, and feminine recipient Maggie Haase from ladies’s observe and subject who holds an ideal 4.00 GPA. 

The particular person sport Most worthy gamers additionally have been named, as voted on by head coaches. The males’s staff MVPs have been awarded to: baseball’s Logan Fyffe (Springfield, Ohio), soccer’s Shomari Lawrence (Pompano Beach, Fla.), swimming and diving’s Kiefer Roemer (Bettendorf, Iowa), basketball’s Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.), golfer Christian Rischer (Columbia, Mo.) and soccer’s Adrian Esteban (Madrid, Spain). It marked Osei-Bonsu’s second straight MVP award for males’s basketball.

Women’s staff MVPs have been awarded to: seashore volleyball’s Mackenzie Steele (Nashville, Tenn.) and Cleary, tennis standout Billur Gonlusen (Adana, Turkey), basketball’s Kaemyn Bekemeier (Republic, Mo.), volleyball’s Brooke Eslinger (Cleveland, Tenn.), STUNT’s Tylee Parrish (Vinita, Okla.), swimming and diving’s Makenzie Kurre (Savannah, Mo.), soccer’s Jane Hansen (Overland Park, Kan.), golf’s Kiser Pannier (Sedalia, Mo.), acrobatics and tumbling’s Anna Warring (Houston, Texas), cross nation’s Tabi Fox (Edmond, Okla.), observe’s Olivia Rogers (Dearborn, Mo.) and softball’s Riley Baber (Overland Park, Kan.). Rogers’ accolades marked her third straight observe and subject MVP.

Now in its tenth yr within the award rotation, the Heart of the Bear Award was established to acknowledge the division’s two most inspirational, hard-working student-athletes for his or her dedication on and off the sector of play. The honor has since expanded exponentially to incorporate 18 honorees this yr, together with: seashore volleyball’s Taylor Germann (Ashland, Mo.), tennis’ Lola Federski (Braunschweig, Germany), baseball’s Carter Bergman (Kansas City, Kan.), ladies’s basketball’s Angel Scott (Edmond, Okla.), volleyball’s Kya Johnson (Springfield, Mo.), soccer’s Stewart McDonald (Rogersville, Mo.), STUNT’s Riley Ray (Springfield, Mo.), males’s swimming and diving’s Chris Bedsole (Huntsville, Ala.), ladies’s swimming and diving’s Ainsley Jenkins (Little Rock, Ark.), ladies’s soccer’s Ella Becker (St. Louis, Mo.), ladies’s golf’s Kiser Pannier (Sedalia, Mo.), males’s basketball’s Logan Epes (Garland, Texas), males’s golf’s Owen Swearingen (Nevada, Mo.), acrobatics and tumbling’s Mia McBride (Oak Park, Ill.), cross nation’s Addysen Clark (Normal, Ill.), observe and subject’s Maggie Haase (Eads, Colo.), males’s soccer’s Hugo Jinkinson (Leicester, England) and softball’s Kayla Ulrich (Sullivan, Mo.).

Baseball earned the Athletic Excellence Award and Men’s Team of the Year, whereas ladies’s basketball received the Women’s Team of the Year. Beach volleyball was offered with the Academic Excellence Award for the second yr in a row. Softball received the Community Service Award for the third time in 4 years, the Bears Supporting Bears honor was given to STUNT, and the Personal Development Award was offered to acrobatics and tumbling.  

 

Swimming and diving’s Dave Collins was named Coach of the Year for the second time in three years, golfer Andrew Fallis (Columbia, Mo.) was offered with the Bears Unite Award, and Dan Raines from the Academic Achievement Center was voted Staff Member of the Year for the second time.

 

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