Double award: Minnie Bittell, Northern Michigan University Wildcats’ top lacrosse scorer, honored with GLIAC Commissioner’s Award for second time | News, Sports, Jobs

Bittell is one of five NMU recipients of this award in the 2023-24 school year and the only one in the spring.

Last year’s other Wildcats winners were swimmer and diver Camilla Carbone and basketball player Makaylee Kuhn in the winter and soccer players Maria Storm and Brooke Pietila in the fall.

Bittell also won the award in the spring of 2023 following her junior year, making her one of two Northern athletes to win in the 2022-23 season after winning in the winter alongside male swimmer Ondrej Zach.

Previously, no NMU student had won the award since Marquette track and field athlete Shayla Huebner was named the honoree in winter 2018-19. Like Bittell, she was a two-time winner and also won it in winter 2017-18 in track and field.

Northern Michigan University’s Minnie Bittell celebrates the Wildcats’ lacrosse victory over Lewis on Feb. 16 at the Superior Dome in Marquette. (Photo courtesy of Cara Kamps)

Only six women and six men win this award each season across the entire conference, which recognizes excellence both on the field and in school.

This spring, Bittell had a 3.62 GPA on a 4.00 scale while graduating with a major in public relations and Spanish and a minor in accounting. After spring 2023, she was listed with a 3.58 GPA.

On the field, she capped her exceptional career last spring by leading the GLIAC in every major offensive category and ranking eighth in all of NCAA Division II with 72 goals and 157 shots. Her league-leading 108 points and 8.35 shots per game earned her 10th place in the nation, while she ranked 11th in the nation with 3.79 goals per game and 14th in the country with 5.68 points per game.

In his career at NMU, Bittell played in 72 games and scored 219 goals, dished out 97 assists for 316 points, took 488 shots (373 on goal), scored 11 game-winning goals, and recorded a total of 104 ground balls, 46 caused turnovers, and 350 draw controls.

The full GLIAC spring list, as well as lists from previous seasons, can be found online at https://www.gliac.org/general_news/Awards/Commish_-_Spring_2024/Spring_2024_Commissioners_Awards.

Northern Michigan University’s Minnie Bittell (top center) celebrates with her teammates after scoring a goal against Lewis in a college lacrosse game on Feb. 16 at the Superior Dome in Marquette. (Photo courtesy of Cara Kamps)

This spring, another student-athlete from an Upper Peninsula school will be honored: track and field athlete Jenna Fleming from Lake Superior State. Four athletes were honored by Wayne State, two each from Grand Valley State and Ferris State, and one each from Saginaw Valley State and Purdue Northwest, for a total of 12.

During the winter and fall, the only other athlete from a UP school to win this award besides NMU was Michigan Tech football player Sam Kinne.

Information compiled by Steve Brownlee, the Journal’s sports editor. His email address is [email protected].