ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul department of athletics has selected its 2015-16 Male and Female Athletes of the Year with sophomore Connor Olson (baseball) and senior Rachel Gray (golf) earning the honors. The award is nominated and voted on by athletic department head coaches and administrators.

This year's recipients each started and finished their seasons in impressive fashion. Gray, a senior coming off a Division II Championships individual participant year as a junior in 2014-15 picked up where she left off. After a strong debut placing 18th out of 100 in a strong field, Gray captured a tournament win at Concordia's Holiday Inn Invitational (72-73=145) and put together the same two round scores the following week at the GolfScrimmages.com National Championship Preview in Aurora, Colorado at the site of the Division II Championships. She placed sixth out of 100 in a field that included numerous nationally-ranked teams and individuals, a sign of how she'd conclude her year.

After helping the team to a second place finish at the fall/spring split season NSIC Championships, Gray led the women to a strong team performance at the NCAA Super Region 3 Championships as she placed 10th of 66 and earned one of three individual invitations to compete at the Division II Championships for the second year in a row. At the DII Championships, Gray set multiple program records including low round (69), low 72-hole tournament (299), low season average (77.65) and left the program with the career scoring average record (80.22).

Olson's season trajectory was similar as he opened the 2016 campaign in Tucson, Arizona by securing NSIC Player of the Week honors as he hit .563 (9-16) with a .682 on base percentage and .875 slugging percentage. He led the team to a 5-0 record in Arizona, scoring and driving in 10 runs each including five doubles, three walks, three hit by pitch and throwing out both attempted base stealers defensively.

The 5-0 start led the team to a program record 16-3 start through 19 games on its way to matching the team record for conference wins (20) by season end with a trip to the NSIC Tournament in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Olson, who had a strong overall season, caught fire at the end just like he did at the beginning as he raised his game against the league's top pitchers in the biggest situations of the year. He hit .476 (10-21) with a .542 on base percentage and .905 slugging percentage, scoring eight and driving in seven runs in five games. He added six more doubles to a record-setting doubles campaign (21) and delivered a homer to help the team reach the NSIC Tournament Championship. He was named to the NSIC All-Tournament Team as the Golden Bears finished as league runner-up. The team went on to finish with a 30-15 overall record, just the third 30 win season in program history, and tied for the second most.

Gray and Olson each earned All-Central Region honors, Gray honored by the WGCA on the first team (only one team is selected) while Olson was an NCBWA honorable mention selection. They were also named All-NSIC First Team selections in addition to their incredible postseason performances.
 

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• 2016 All-NSIC First Team Catcher
• 2016 NSIC All-Tournament Team performer - .476/.542/.905 (10-21), 8 R, 6 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, team reached NSIC Championship game
• Named NSIC Player of the Week (3/7) - .583/.682/.875 (9-16), 10 R, 5 2B, 10 RBI, team 5-0 in Arizona
• Ranks 2nd in the Central Region and NSIC & 12th in Division II in doubles rate (0.47/game)
• Ranks 11th in the Central Region, 4th in the NSIC & 26th in Division II in home run rate (0.33 per game)
• Ranks 9th in the Central Region, 6th in the NSIC & 23rd in Division II in slugging percentage (.754)
• Ranks 6th in the NSIC in total home runs (14), hitting all 14 in NSIC play to rank 4th in league games
• Set the single season doubles record with 21 including seven in the last six games of the season
• His 15 home runs is third most in a single season in program history, hitting six homers in a seven game span in the Bemidji State and U-Mary weekend series (3/25 to 4/4)
• Also ranks in the NSIC's top-20 in average (.368), runs (48), RBI (45) and total bases (129)
• Ranks 10th in the NSIC fielding percentage (.991), ranked 13th in a league with 15 starting catchers in passed balls (5) and 16th in stolen bases against (23)
• In addition to his single season doubles and home runs marks at CSP, ranks fourth in total bases (129), ninth in slugging (.754), and ninth in hits (63)
• A .368/.434/.754 (63-171) hitter on the year
• Scored 48 runs, drove in 45 in 45 games between catcher (33) and DH (12) while leading off all 45 games
• A career .361/.420/.615 (118-327) as a two year starter in 88 games
• Has 72 runs, 32 doubles, 17 homers, 77 RBI in two seasons
• Ranks sixth in career history with 32 doubles
• Also ranks 12th in team history in career home runs (17), 15th in slugging (.615), 17th in total bases (201), 20th in hitting (.361)

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• This year, set program records for: career average (80.22), season average (77.65), 4-round score (299), 3-round score (223), 2-round score (144) and single round score (72) along with the record low round (69) at the 2016 DII Championships (the 299 score was also at DII Championships)
• Holds the program record for most top-5 tournament finishes (13), top-10 tournament finishes (19) and par or better rounds (5) in her career
• Played on four consecutive NCAA Central Region Tournament qualifying teams and qualified for the DII Championships as a junior and senior
• Two-time WGCA All-Central Region (2014-15 & 2015-16)
• Two-time NCAA Division II Championships Individual Qualifier (2014-15 & 2015-16)
• Three-time All-NSIC (2014-15 & 2015-16 First Team, 2013-14 Second Team)
• 2014-15 NSIC All-Tournament Team
• Two-Time WGCA All-Scholar (2013-14 & 2014-15)
• Three-time NSIC All-Academic (2013-14, 2014-15 & 2015-16)
• 2013-14 CoSIDA Academic All-District Team
• Fifth-ranked player in 2015-16 NSIC (25 rounds) with school record 77.7 average
• Has six top-10, three top-5 and one first place finish in 10 tournaments
• Holds an .868 winning percentage (646-98) against other individuals
• Has 19 top-10, 13 top-5 and one tournament win in 40 career tournaments
• Has the first, third and ninth best season averages in program history