st. Paul, minn. - the closing of the 2009-10 athletic year at concordia university comes with the achievements of the male and female athletes of the year. The awards were announced in april at the first annual cspy's awards ceremony at buetow auditorium on campus. The concordia athletic department selected brenden furrow (sr., baseball) as the male athlete of the year while volleyball seniors mary slinger and maggie mcnamara were chosen as co-female athletes of the year.
brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) capped off a storied career by going on a home run tear down the stretch in his final season. In his final home doubleheader at barnes field against nationally-ranked, nsic and regional champion minnesota state, furrow went off for three home runs in the first game. The three homer game, another outstanding milestone in his career, catapulted him to the single season and career home run records in his cu career. It also helped him become the 2010 nsic home run champion. He hit 15 of his cu-record 18 homers during concordia's 31 nsic games, hitting one nearly every other game. He hit half of his career record 36 long balls during his senior campaign and throughout his four years he showed that he could hit for average and power.
as a sophomore in 2008 when concordia made their first run to the ncaa tournament after an nsic tournament championship, furrow hit a career best .433. This year, he hit .410 while breaking his own hits record for a third consecutive season, finishing with 84. He finished his four years a career .395 hitter and broke every career record. He showed consistency, explosiveness and durability during his time at concordia and became a dugout leader as a senior on a young squad. His steady bat in the three-spot in the order helped concordia turn a 10-21 record (2-8 nsic) into a 22-23 mark (14-10 nsic) after a string of 12 wins in 14 games. They finished a respectable 15-16 in league play in 8th place after the rough start while furrow continued to assault northern sun pitching.
he became concordia baseball's third all-american, all coming in the last four years spanning his career at cu. He set career records for games played (183) while committing only seven errors in his four year career. Often, furrow wasn't sure where he'd be in the field, playing primarily right field before spending the last two seasons with heavy time at first base. He also played third base and centerfield while displaying great range, a strong arm and a reliable glove.
while he is concordia's most durable player ever, he also set single season and career records for rbi with 70 as a senior to finish with 188 for his career. The run producing machine also scored a record 154 while notching career records in doubles (55), hits (262) and at bats (663).
between his freshman and sophomore seasons, furrow set the record for longest hitting streak at 21 games, with 19 coming to start his sophomore season. Throughout his four years, he hit safely in 146 games, won a conference championship (2008), played in the ncaa playoffs (2008) and contributed to school wins records in two different seasons (2007, 2009).
the 2010 cu female athlete of the year has co-winners in volleyball athletes maggie mcnamara and mary slinger, two of the most decorated student-athletes in school history. The duo served as the leading force behind putting three national championship trophies in the cu trophy case. They both finished their collegiate careers as record holders in their respective areas of expertise, maggie a setter and mary a defender, and combined for six all-american honors.
maggie mcnamara came to concordia from zumbrota, minn. And took over as the team’s starting setter her freshman year. Having led the nation in assists every year of her career, expectations for mcnamara and her golden bears couldn’t have been higher in 2009. But the 5-9 setter and her concordia squad met every challenge of the season and took home a third straight ncaa division ii national championship with an undefeated 37-0 record. Mcnamara accumulated 1,551 assists her senior season for a 13.26 assist/set average. This was more than 1.2 assists/set ahead of any other setter in the nation and gave mcnamara a four-peat as the nation’s statistical leader in her field.
mcnamara knocked of milestone after milestone as the season progressed. She was named the national player of the week following the season’s first week of play (9/1) before clearing the 6,000 career assist mark on september 4, joining just 17 other setters in ncaa dii history (at that time) to go over 6,000 assists. The concordia assists record was surpassed on october 16 as mcnamara overcame cailin terhaar’s previous record. Mcnamara’s greatest record was set in the golden bears’ regular season finale on november 14. That evening, mcnamara became the ncaa division ii’s all-time assists leader, recording more assists in her career than any other player who has performed at this level in ncaa history.
mcnamara wrapped up the 2009 season by being named the division ii avca player of the year, the second straight year receiving this ultimate honor. Her name was atop nearly every honor and distinction given out to a volleyball athlete this season, wrapping up her career with a fourth all-american status and also being named an academic all-american. In her tenure, mcnamara accumulated 7,351 assists. She added 264 digs to a career total of 1,298, displaying a balance that is rarely seen by a setter. Mcnamara also had 28 serving aces and 41 blocks on the year.
just as the golden bear volleyball team would have been lost without mcnamara, the athletic contributions by team libero mary slinger are unmistakable. Slinger’s work on the court had just as much to do with the team’s unstoppable offensive success as the hitters themselves, her passing and defense giving teammates free reign to run in-system on nearly every possession. Slinger, also a senior, displayed an uncanny ability throughout her career to anticipate her opponent’s every move and put herself into great position to pass the perfect ball. Play in 2009 proved even more successful, with slinger making remarkable saves on a nightly basis that made heads shake in awe throughout the gangelhoff center.
slinger also put her name in the record books as the finest player at her position in school history. She racked up 576 digs in 2009 to bump her career total to 2,349. The night of her ascension as the school’s digs leader was on november 6, when she surpassed megan graham’s former record. Slinger had 10 or more digs in 30 of cu’s 37 matches in 2009. As the squad’s most prominent serve receiver, slinger had a .958 serve receive average during the 3-peat season, only being aced more than once in a match twice on the entire year. In addition to her career digs record, slinger also holds cu’s season and individual match records. She racked up 875 digs in 2007 (30-pt format), which is more than 200 digs above the next highest record for a season. 39 of those digs came in a single match against msu moorhead on november 9, 2007, the highest single game digs mark in history.
mary’s expertise at her position was recognized nationally, as she was just one of two liberos to be named an all-american this season. She was the only all-american libero in 2008. Just like mcnamara, slinger’s accolades during the 2009 season fill up a good portion of her biography. She was named the nsic’s libero of the year for the third straight season and was also named a first team academic all-american, graduating with a 3.95 cumulative gpa. She was also named a division ii national player of the week in 2009, receiving the honor on october 13.
the contributions of both maggie mcnamara and mary slinger were vital to the golden bear volleyball team in 2009. The pair were the main reasons that concordia won a third straight national championship on december 5, 2009, the first time that any ncaa volleyball team, regardless of the division, was to three-peat. Concordia also currently holds the ncaa dii record for consecutive matches won, an active streak of 74 straight wins. In their careers, maggie and mary won three ncaa titles and four nsic championships, putting up a record of 146-8 overall and 75-1 in nsic play. Concordia is pleased to recognize both mcnamara and slinger as two of the most reputable student-athletes in school history, combining their athletic success with the value they have also placed on academics, both being named all-americans and academic all-americans.
