To conclude the year 2019 and the 2010s decade, CU Athletics took a look back at the highlights and storylines of the past ten years. Previous stories of this series are linked below.
December 26 – New Sports
December 27 – Facility Upgrades
December 28 – First Team All-Americans/Professional Athletes
December 29 – Elders earns NAIA Hall of Fame Nomination
December 30 – Mission Trips
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Cornerstone's trophy case is stacked with plenty of hardware from its storied history. A lot of those trophies and plaques come from the past ten years.
By the Numbers - Since 2010
16 - WHAC regular season conference champions.
10 - WHAC Tournament champions
7 - Individual National champions (in Track & Field / Cross Country)
2 - National championship teams
Track & Field / Cross Country Individuals
Seven athletes won Individual National Championships over the past ten years.
Colin DeYoung - Cross Country 8K - 2018
Brittany Murray - Pentathlon - 2015
Brittany Green - Heptathlon - 2014
Louis Falland - Mile (Indoor) - 2014
Cody Risch - 3,000 meter race walk - 2014
Joel Leong - 35-pound weight throw - 2010
Zach Ripley - 3,000 meter steeplechase - 2010
Additionally, numerous individuals have earned individual championships at the conference level. Those can be found at the links below:
Men's Track and Field Award Winners
Women's Track and Field Award Winners
Men's Cross Country Award Winners
Women's Cross Country Award Winners
Volleyball
2016 – WHAC regular season
2017 – WHAC Tournament
2018 – WHAC Tournament
After an 11-year drought without a national tournament appearance, the Volleyball program made it to the national stage in three consecutive seasons thanks to a 2016 regular season conference title and back-to-back conference tournament championships in 2017 and 2018.
Women's Indoor Track
2010 – WHAC Championship
The stacked 2010 indoor women's track team featured six NAIA All-Americans. Amy Boyer earned Most Valuable Performer accolades. Andi Ripley won the 1,000m event with a time of 3:05.00 and the mile with a time of 5:00.75. Kay-De Vaughn won the triple jump with a distance of 37' 9.5.
Women's Cross Country
2012 – WHAC Championship
2013 – WHAC Championship
Julie Oosterhouse and Jill Louisignau were named to First Team All-WHAC in both 2012 and 2013. Oosterhouse was named WHAC Runner of the Year as a junior in 2013 and as a senior in 2014.
The Golden Eagles were ranked in the NAIA Top 25 poll for the entirety of both the 2012 and 2013 seasons, finding themselves as high as 7th toward the end of the 2012 campaign.
Men's Cross Country
2019 – WHAC Championship
The most recent Cornerstone championship came last month when the Men's Cross Country team hoisted the trophy at the WHAC championship race.
Freshman Luke Pohl and junior Denver Daniel led the Golden Eagles by placing 5th and 6th, respectively. The team went on to finish 27th at the national stage.
Women's Basketball
2018 – WHAC Tournament
After a respectable 16-14 overall, 11-9 WHAC record in the regular season, the Golden Eagles entered the eight-team WHAC tournament as the 6-seed. After upsetting both 3-seed Aquinas and 2-seed #20 Lawrence Tech in the quarterfinal and semifinal, respectively, Cornerstone traveled to Indiana to take on top-seeded Indiana Tech, who was ranked #9 in the nation.
The down-to-the-wire contest ended 72-69 in favor of the Golden Eagles. From there, Cornerstone faced a tough opponent in Southeastern (Fla.), who was ranked #1 in the nation, in the opening round of the national tournament. Cornerstone nearly pulled off the historic upset, but the Fire prevailed in overtime, 69-64.
Softball
2013 – WHAC regular season
The Golden Eagles finished the 2013 season with a 32-6 overall, 14-2 WHAC record en route to the outright regular season conference title.
First Team All-American Heidi Warmelink and Second Team All-American Megan Oberst led the Golden Eagles with .398 and .383 batting averages, respectively. Both players tallied 40 RBI over the season.
Coach Jim Farrell was named 2013 WHAC Coach of the Year.
Men's Soccer
2011 – WHAC regular season
2012 – WHAC regular season
The Golden Eagles won back-to-back regular season titles in 2011 and 2012. Head Coach Mark Bell was named WHAC Coach of the Year in both seasons.
The 2011 team went 11-7 overall, 7-1 WHAC en route to the regular season conference championship. Isaac Grotenhuis was named WHAC Offensive Player of the Year with nine goals – four of which were game-winners – along with three assists. Matt Osorio, Jacob Stanko, and Jordan Wilson all earned First Team All-WHAC accolades.
The 2012 team went 14-3-2 overall, 9-1 WHAC to earn back to clinch back-to-back WHAC regular season trophies. Goalkeeper Kyle Breckan was named WHAC Defensive Player of the Year and also earned NAIA Honorable Mention accolades. Joining Breckan on the First Team All-WHAC list was Grotenhuis, Osorio, Stanko, and Trevor Hunt.
Women's Soccer
2010 – WHAC regular season; WHAC Tournament
The 2010 Lady Golden Eagles finished the season with an 11-7-2 overall record, 4-1-1 in regular season WHAC matches.
After knocking off Aquinas 3-2 in the tournament semifinal, Cornerstone took down Siena Heights in penalty kicks in the championship game to hoist the WHAC tournament trophy.
Ashley Lund was named WHAC Defensive Player of the Year and also received NAIA Honorable Mention accolades. Amanda Van Laar joined Lund on the First Team All-WHAC list.
Head Coach Randy Strawser earned Coach of the Year honors.
Men's Golf
2011 – WHAC Tournament
In the 2011 Men's Golf match play tournament, the 4th-seed Golden Eagles knocked off the heavily favored, top-ranked Madonna Crusaders2 on day one by a score of 4-2. On day two, Cornerstone came out and defeated Davenport 3.5-2.5 to prevail as WHAC tournament champions.
Head Coach Eric Campbell earned Coach of the Year Honors.
Men's Basketball
2010 – WHAC regular season; WHAC Tournament
2011 – WHAC regular season; WHAC Tournament; National Tournament
2014 – WHAC regular season; WHAC Tournament
2015 – WHAC regular season; WHAC Tournament; National Tournament
2017 – WHAC regular season; WHAC Tournament
2018 – WHAC regular season
2019 – WHAC regular season
The Men's basketball team's resume is loaded with 14 championship trophies from the past decade. Head Coach Kim Elders' squads earned seven WHAC regular season championships, five WHAC tournament championships, and a pair of NAIA National Tournament titles. Altogether, the Men's basketball team had a cumulative 282-72 record in the 2010s.
The 2011 championship team went 34-4 overall, 16-2 in the WHAC. Kelvin DeVries earned First Team All-WHAC and Second Team All-American honors. Caleb Simon earned First Team All-WHAC and NAIA Tournament MVP honors.
The 2015 championship team went 33-5 overall, 19-3 in the WHAC. Kyle Steigenga came onto the scene and earned First Team All-WHAC, First Team All-American, and NAIA Tournament MVP honors as a freshman. Travis Wells and Ben Lanning joined Steigenga on the All-Tournament team.
The decade saw nine different players earn First Team All-WHAC honors, and three different First Team All-Americans.
Head Coach Kim Elders won WHAC Coach of the Year in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2018, and NAIA/NABC Coach of the Year in 2015 and 2017. Elders became the first individual from Cornerstone University to be nominated to the NAIA Hall of Fame when he was inducted in 2018.
