The College of Wooster Athletics Department has selected track and field's Evie Sanford as its North Coast Athletic Conference Pam Smith Award nominee and men's lacrosse's Lane Kellogg as its NCAC Don Hunsinger Award nominee. Additionally, men's soccer's Elliot Miller and field hockey and women's lacrosse's Lizzie Hardy were chosen as Wooster's recipients of the NCAC Scholar-Athlete Award, Kellogg and softball's Julia Jennings for the College's Manges Athletics Prize, and baseball's Colin Leslie and Sanford for the department's David Guldin Award.

Sanford earned three U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Great Lakes Region honors during her standout career as a Fighting Scots' thrower. She was a four-time NCAC shot put champion, winning for the final time at this year's indoor conference meet with a throw of 43 feet, 5 inches. She earned seven All-NCAC honors in the throws, four during indoor and three for outdoor. Sanford graduated as the program's all-time record-holder in the discus (132 feet, 2 inches), outdoor shot put (43 feet, 9.25 inches), and indoor shot put (43 feet, 5 inches).

Sanford is in line to be a three-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® selection and three-time member of the NCAC Dr. Gordon Collins Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll when those are announced later this summer. The environmental geoscience alumna explored the younger dryas through a multi-proxy limnological analysis of Brown's Lake for Independent Study and will be attending the University at Buffalo for graduate school. Sanford's internships include a summer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. There, she installed new seismic stations and maintained the Ohio Seismic Network, aided with monitoring Lake Erie sediments using side-scan sonar and lake bathymetry, and verified the consistency and accuracy of mineral resources information inputted into the Ohio Department of Natural Resources database. Sanford was a summer research associate for the College's tree ring lab and Browns Lake bog project, a teaching assistant for the paleoecology, paleoclimate, and sedimentology and stratigraphy labs, a STEM Zone intern, a president of the College's Geology Club, a sustainability intern for Green Scots, and had an article published in the Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.

Kellogg rewrote Wooster's record book this spring, graduating as the program's all-time leader in points (301) and assists (140). His 301 points are nearly 50 more than Jim Applegate totaled in the mid-1980s, while his assists also took down a four-decade-old Applegate record. Kellogg set new single-season records for points (98) and assists (59), taking down two three-decade-old records held by Andy Fox. He started the year by breaking single-game records with 13 points and 10 assists in a rout of Hiram College. Kellogg helped Wooster to a share of the NCAC championship for the program's first conference crown since 2004. He earned honorable mention United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-America honors for the second time and graduated as a three-time All-NCAC performer.

Kellogg will be working as a medical assistant at Arvada Pediatrics in Colorado with plans to enroll in medical school in 2027. He has worked here since 2024, assisting physicians with direct patient care, vitals, patient intake, and clinical procedures. Kellogg gained further shadowing experience with Panorama Orthopedics in 2025. For Independent Study, Kellogg designed and conducted research examining behavioral effects of fluoxetine exposure in fish. Kellogg spent three semesters as a tour guide for admissions, coaches youth lacrosse back home in Colorado, and is a fly fishing instructor. He helped coordinate Wayne County Fair parking for the Wayne County Humane Society. He is an anticipated two-time CSC Academic All-District® and three-time NCAC Dr. Gordon Collins Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll honoree.

Miller, Wooster's 20th NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship selection in the last decade, kept Wooster ranked in the top-three among all NCAA institutions in the last five-year cycle. As a senior, Miller earned fourth-team United Soccer Coaches All-America and second-team CSC Academic All-America® honors, becoming the first Wooster men's soccer player to earn both honors in the same season. At the conference level, Miller was voted the NCAC Offensive Player of the Year after topping Wooster with 22 points on eight goals and six assists. He led Wooster to an 11-2-6 season for the program's top year since 2004.

The environmental geoscience alumnus was voted by his peers as one of two student commencement speakers. He analyzed palagonite from Iceland's western zone and the implications for Martian glaciovolcanism for Independent Study. He studied abroad in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Miller was an intern with Wooster's earth sciences department and spent three years as a student assistant athletic trainer. As a Scot, Miller was actively involved with the Geology Club. He is finalizing where to attend graduate school in pursuit of an advanced degree in planetary geology. Miller is a projected two-time member of the NCAC Dr. Gordon Collins NCAC Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll.

Hardy, a USA Lacrosse Magazine All-American, earned NCAC Midfielder of the Year honors after helping the Scots return to the NCAA Div. III Championship, where the program won its first-round game and finished with 17 wins for the second straight year. The three-time All-NCAC midfielder broke the program's career record for draw controls, graduating with 411, nearly 100 more than Hannah Shaw's old record of 304. This spring, Hardy tracked down 132 draw controls, the program's new single-season record. She became the second in program history to surpass 200 career groundballs, 66 of which came this spring, good for the fourth-most on the program's single-season list. In field hockey, Hardy was a two-time all-conference selection, regularly ranking as one of the team's top scoring threats.

The business economics alumna examined how adding or subtracting sports teams from a college's athletics offerings affects its financial sustainability. She is a projected two-time CSC Academic All-District® selection and three-time NCAC Dr. Gordon Collins Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll qualifier. Hardy studied abroad in Spain in 2024, taking a sports marketing course where she learned about global perspectives within the sports industry and international marketing strategies to cater to branding and fan engagement. Hardy was an equipment room and game operations intern within the athletics department and coached club lacrosse back home in Pittsburgh. Hardy spent last fall conducting an impact analysis for a local food business in Wooster and assessing its role within regional food systems. Hardy was involved with Wooster's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and part of the College's service house program partnered with People-to-People Ministries. Hardy intends to pursue a MBA with a concentration in sports business.

Jennings debuted as the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's inaugural Gold Glove winner for Div. III third base and was first-team all-region, the NCAC Newcomer of the Year, and first-team All-NCAC as a first-year. The four-time all-conference infielder earned first-team status as a sophomore and junior. She broke the single-season program record with a .450 average (59-for-131) as a first-year and finished second in program history with a .389 career average (187-for-481). Jennings established a new career program record in hits, finishing with 15 more than teammate Emma Hetkey's new second-place total of 172. Jennings graduated second in program history with 97 RBI, third with a .430 on-base percentage, and first with 391 assists.

Jennings will be student teaching this fall before moving back home to Indiana to start teaching high school English and coaching softball. She planned, taught, and assessed a Socratic seminar lesson and reflected on its effectiveness for Independent Study. Jennings volunteers for Night to Shine local prom events, with the Boys and Girls Club in Wooster, and with West View Healthy Living. In summers, she runs defensive lessons for local softball teams back home. Jennings is a three-time CSC Academic All-District® selection and projects to be a three-time qualifier for the NCAC Dr. Gordon Collins Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll.

Leslie is a candidate for the American Baseball Coaches Association Gold Glove award after a spring in which he threw out over 50 percent of would-be base stealers and picked off 10 runners. Entering the Div. III Tournament, Leslie's 41 assists were believed to be the most among Div. III catchers who only play that position. Leslie was a first-team All-NCAC selection this spring. He batted .317 (45-for-142) with 38 runs, 34 RBI, and 10 homers.

Leslie graduated with a degree in education and urban studies and plans to play as a graduate transfer in 2027 due to having a year of eligibility remaining. He examined high school sports offerings and their link to urbanicity, enrollment, and income for Independent Study. Leslie was a student teacher at Parkview Elementary School this spring and was previously a student classroom assistant within the Wooster City School District. Leslie was a jumpstart intern at a preschool back home in Chicago prior to his junior year and worked in the equipment room on campus. He is a two-time CSC Academic All-District® qualifier and a projected three-time member of the NCAC Dr. Gordon Collins Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll.
 

About the NCAC and Departmental Awards

The Hunsinger Award recognizes one men's sport sport senior student-athlete who has distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate career in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service, and leadership. The Smith Award criteria is the same for women's sports. A committee of NCAC administrators in conjunction with the conference office will review the nominees in the coming weeks and make the selection of this year's recipients.

The Manges Athletics Prize, established in 1925 by Monroe Manges '88, is awarded annually at Wooster's graduation to the member of the senior class most proficient in vigorous physical activity, or more specifically, varsity athletics. The Guldin Award goes to the top two scholar-athletes in the senior class based on both their academic and athletic ability, while the NCAC Scholar-Athlete Award is awarded to one men's sport and one women's sport athlete as chosen by each member institution based on institution-specific criteria. Wooster head coaches submit nominations for the Manges, Guldin, and NCAC Scholar-Athlete awards, and a committee from the Athletics department selects the winners.