North Dakota State College of Science softball earned two of the top honors in the annual North Dakota Associated Press Sportswriters and Sportscasters Awards.
The awards were voted on by members of the NDAPSSA from television, newspaper, digital and radio outlets across the state.
College Female Coach of the Year: Mike Oehlke, NDSCS
In Mike Oehlke’s first season at NDSCS, the Wildcats won four games.
Since then, NDSCS has gone to five consecutive NJCAA Division III World Series, winning national championships in two of the past three seasons.
This spring, they went 54-14-1 and won a national title. It’s their second straight 50-win season.
The other finalists were Kevin Gall of Jamestown and Shayne Wittkopp of Dickinson State.
College Female Team of the Year: NDSCS softball
The Wildcats went 45-4-1 over their final 50 games, winning their second national championship in three seasons (2023 and 2025) with a runner-up finish in 2024.
NDSCS beat Patrick & Henry twice to win the title after losing 3-0 earlier in the national tournament.
Ella Stewart and Healey Taylor each finished with ERAs under 2.00.
The other finalist was Dickinson State Track and Field.
Other NDAPSSA College Awards
College Male Athlete of the Year: Treysen Eaglestaff, UND
Eaglestaff stole the spotlight in North Dakota’s non-conference contest against Alabama and fellow former North Dakota Mr. Basketball winner Grant Nelson.
He was the only Division I basketball player last season with multiple 40-point games. He averaged 18.9 points per game while shooting 41.6 percent from the field, 35.9 percent on three-pointers and 79.4 percent on free throws.
He made 84 three-pointers and also put up 31 in a game against Utah Valley.
After the season, he entered the transfer portal and will play next season at West Virginia in the Big 12.
Other finalists were Reece Barnhardt of the University of Mary and Caleb Van De Griend of Minot State.
College Male Coach of the Year: Matt Murken, Minot State
Murken led Minot State’s men’s basketball team to a school-record 26 wins last season, starting the season 17-0 and reaching No. 4 in the NCAA Division II basketball poll.
The Beavers finished 26-10 and reached the Northern Sun postseason tournament title game before falling to Minnesota State-Moorhead 78-66. Minot State made its first Division II national tournament appearance, falling to Concordia-St. Paul 83-71 in the Central Region quarterfinals.
Murken won 186 games in 13 seasons as head coach at Minot State and has now joined South Dakota as an assistant coach.
Derek Selvig of Dickinson State and Tim Polasek of North Dakota State were also finalists.
College Male Team of the Year: NDSU football
The Bison won their 10th FCS national championship. Cam Miller had 320 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns as No. 2 seed NDSU knocked off top-seeded Montana State 35-32.
NDSU went 14-1, with their two losses coming in the opener to Colorado (31-36) and in the regular-season finale to South Dakota (29-28).
The Bison reeled off playoff wins over Abilene Christian (51-31), Mercer (31-7) and South Dakota State (28-21) to reach the title game.
The other finalists were Minot State basketball and Dickinson State basketball.
College Female Athlete of the Year: Jumoke Adekoye, Dickinson State
Adekoye won all five of her matches in winning the Blue Hawks’ first national championship in women’s wrestling.
A Nigeria native, Adekoye won the 131-pound title at the NAIA national tournament in Park City, Kan., defeating No. 1 seed Caolina Moreno of Southern Oregon 3-1 in the semifinals and wrapping up the title with a 5-3 victory over Xochitl Mota-Pettis of Missouri Valley in the finals.
Adekoye was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Other finalists were Ashlyn Diemert of Valley City State and Jocelyn Schiller of North Dakota.
The NDAPSSA High School Awards are scheduled for a Friday morning release.
