ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- A total of 72 Augustana student-athletes were recognized at the 2025-26 Blanket Awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon. In order to receive a varsity "A" letter blanket, an Augustana athlete must compete in the same sport for four years and earn at least three varsity letters.
Augustana also recognized the recipients of the John Farwell Academic Team Awards, presented annually to the men's and women's teams with the highest cumulative grade point averages. Men's tennis earned the men's award with a 3.52 cumulative GPA, while women's tennis claimed the women's award with a 3.68 cumulative GPA.
The Knut Erickson Award, presented to the men's and women's Blanket Award recipients with the highest individual cumulative GPA, was also announced during the ceremony.
On the men's side, Mark Addison of swimming & water polo earned the award with a 3.99 cumulative GPA. Addison, a Business Analytics, Data Analytics, and Accounting major, finished just ahead of Logan Kearns of men's volleyball and Arthur Mendes of men's tennis, who tied for second with 3.98 GPAs. Both Kearns and Mendes are Biology majors.
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Maddy Harned of women's tennis and Cali Papez of women's basketball shared the women's Knut Erickson Award after both recorded perfect 4.00 cumulative GPAs. Harned is majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders, while Papez is majoring in Biology and Spanish. Grace Gustafson of women's volleyball and Jordyn Van Santen tied for third with 3.97 cumulative GPAs.
2025-26 Augustana Vikings Blanket Award winners
The varsity "A" letter blanket is the highest award given by the Augustana College athletic department. In order to achieve it, the athlete must compete in his or her sport for four years and earn at least three varsity letters. The 72 blanket award winners are as follows:
Women
Basketball
- Cali Papez (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles)
- Carly Stone (Beaverton, Ore./Mountainside)
- Kadence Tatum (Moline, Ill./Moline)
Bowling
- Samantha Olson (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South)
Cross country
- Rylee Noack (Rock Island, Ill./Alleman)
Golf
- Abby Buechele (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East)
- Georgia Holt (Hastings, Minn./East Ridge)
- Emma VanderWall (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central)
Lacrosse
- Elena Bechard-Wolfe (Minooka, Ill./Minooka)
- Ariadna Escobar (Elgin, Ill./Elgin)
- Madison Langewisch (West Hills, Calif./Chamindae College Prep)
- Rachel Wylie (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington)
Soccer
- Samira Khobdeh (Wauconda, Ill./Wauconda)
Softball
- Marley Behm (Lakewood, Colo./Green Mountain)
- Emma Evans (Farmington, Ill./Farmington)
- Emily Gad (Orland Park, Ill./Lockport Township)
- Lauren Koster (Oswego, Ill./Yorkville)
- Maya Viel (Rockford, Ill./Auburn)
Swimming & diving
- Kate Kucera (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North)
- Genevieve Ryan (Rockford, Ill./Boylan Central Catholic)
- Lexie Seten (Champaign, Ill./Centennial)
Tennis
- Hannah Colbert (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville)
- Natasha Gauerke (Chanhassen, Minn./Chanhassen)
- Maddy Harned (Rockford, Ill./Auburn)
- Maitreyi Shrikhande (Davenport, Iowa/Davenport Central)
Track & field/cross country
- Charlotte Frere (Preemption, Ill./Sherrard)
- Rhiannon Marshall (Dalton City, Ill./Mt. Zion)
- Jordyn Van Santen (Forest Park, Ill./Fenwick)
Volleyball
- Mallory Coley (Dixon, Ill./Dixon)
- Grace Gustafson (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island)
- Alexis Richards (Eldridge, Iowa/North Scott)
- Brianna Rios (Lemont, Ill./St. Laurence)
- Leah Rizzo (Crestwood, Ill./Alan B. Shepard)
- Carli Udovich (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central)
Water polo
- Jersey Merrick (Chicago, Ill./Chicago High School of Agricultural Sciences)
- Olivia Parry (Wilsonville, Ore./Wilsonville)
- Carli Udovich (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central)
Wrestling
- Aine Moffit (Le Claire, Iowa/Pleasant Valley)
- Hannah Suboni-Kaufman (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine East)
Men
Baseball
- Brian Fischer (Centennial, Colo./Regis Jesuit)
- Zach Gulliksen (Arvada, Colo./Pomona)
- Ethan Sosnowski (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria)
Basketball
- Dani Romero (Malaga, Spain/EBG Malaga)
Football
- Dylan Burton (Freeburg, Ill./Freeburg)
- Max Castle (Oswego, Ill./Oswego)
- Adam Gallagher (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep)
- Ryan Gustafsson (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove)
- Nick Hogan (Girard, Ill./North Mac)
- Brett Holcomb (Freeburg, Ill./Freeburg)
- Ben Ludlum (Algonquin, Ill./Jacobs)
- Jake Miller (Canton, Ill./Canton)
- Darren Oregon (Aurora, Ill./Oswego East)
- Breyden Smith (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey)
- Toby Splitt (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove)
Golf
- Noah Ehlenbach (Verona, Wis./Verona)
- Tom Fornelli (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove)
Lacrosse
- Caiden McCann (Minooka, Ill./Minooka)
Swimming & diving
- Mark Addison (Eads, Tenn./Faith Heritage Christian Academy)
- Oskar Bannister (Bainbridge Island, Wash./Bainbridge)
- Cesar Castillo (Ciudad De Panama, Panama/Instituto Cultural)
- Michael Garland (Sterling, Ill./Sterling)
- Tyler Leslie (Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley)
- Christian Mammoser (Chicago, Ill./Saint Patrick)
Tennis
- Arturo Asensio Moreno (Almendralejo, Spain/Instituto de Educación Secundaria Santiago Apóstol)
- Arthur Mendes (Porto Alegre, Brazil/Colegio marista Rosario)
Track & field/cross country
- Magnus Wells (Coffeen, Ill./Hillsboro)
Volleyball
- Logan Kearns (Lemont, Ill./Lemont)
- Tom Lamb (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice)
- Jordan Schneckloth (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein)
Water polo
- Mark Addison (Eads, Tenn./Faith Heritage Christian Academy)
- Oskar Bannister (Bainbridge Island, Wash./Bainbridge)
- Declan Hutton (Bedfordview, South Africa/Jeppe)
- Tyler Leslie (Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley)
- Stevan Rasic (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South)
