Rarely, if ever, has Bluffton enjoyed the nearly across-the-board athletic success seen in 2014-15.
The year featured All-Americans; an NCAA tournament bid; HCAC champions, first-team performers and a coach of the year; and a number of new school records.
Here are highlights:
Fall
Football
Defensive end Ryan Aelker, a junior, was named second-team All-American by USA College Football after a season in which he compiled a school-record 13 sacks and, with 1.3 sacks per game, became the first Bluffton player to be crowned a national NCAA Division III statistical champion. He was also a second-team All-North Region selection by D3Football.com, and the first Bluffton defender ever to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors in the HCAC.
Joining Aelker on the all-conference first team were seniors Brad Swavel and Jack Tomlinson, while Bluffton's four second-team and five honorable mention selections included Ryan Leopold and Ben Schamp, respectively. Leopold and Schamp, along with senior teammates Marlin Ellis and Wyatt Herman, were also named to the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame Hampshire Honor Society, and Leopold later accepted Bluffton's A.C. Burcky Award as senior male athlete of the year.
Bluffton won six of its last seven games to finish 6-2 in the HCAC—its best conference record since 2000—and 6-4 overall.
Volleyball
Steve Yarnell was voted HCAC Coach of the Year by his peers after guiding Bluffton to the conference tournament title and an NCAA Division III tournament berth for the second straight season and the third time in the last six years.
Leading the team on the court were sophomore MacKenzie McFarlin, the HCAC Most Valuable Player, and juniors Jenny Brown, Sara Roth and Kendra Parmenter, all of whom were also named first-team all-conference. Brown and Roth joined McFarlin on the HCAC all-tournament team as well. Bluffton posted a 7-2 record in conference play and finished 23-12 overall.
Men's cross country
Bluffton claimed its first HCAC cross country champion of either gender in sophomore Jack Fisher, who won the 2014 men's title at Earlham College. Patrick Brean, also a sophomore, was an Academic All-HCAC selection.
Women's cross country
Earning Academic All-HCAC honors were sophomores Anna Hairston and Raven Wilson. Hairston also led Bluffton runners at the conference meet, placing 20th to earn honorable mention.
Men's soccer
Junior Ryan Johnson-Evers and senior Peter Carlson were named second-team All-HCAC, while senior Jordan Andrews received honorable mention. Johnson-Evers and Andrews were also Academic All-Ohio selections, along with junior Jeff Yoder and sophomore Josh Carmack. Bluffton's honorees were four of six from the HCAC overall.
Women's soccer
Sophomore Terrill Webb and freshman Brittany Huff were HCAC honorable mention recipients. Webb, junior Marisa Aguilar and sophomore Abby Karikas received Academic All-Ohio honors from the Ohio Collegiate Soccer Coaches Association.
Winter
Men's basketball
Thayne Recker was named first-team All-HCAC, then second-team All-Great Lakes Region by D3Hoops.com, after a season of superlatives that ended with Bluffton's first-ever trip to the conference tournament finals.
Highlights included the 103-102, triple-overtime win over Hanover in which Recker scored a school- and HCAC-record 53 points. That was also the most points scored by any NCAA Division III player in a game all season, and earned the Bluffton junior national player of the week honors from the United States Basketball Writers Association. In addition, the conference's leading scorer and rebounder was named HCAC Player of the Week three times and was twice a member of the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week.
Another overtime win, at Transylvania, was No. 300 in Coach Guy Neal's Bluffton career and propelled the Beavers into the HCAC tournament. There, Recker averaged 26 points and 10 rebounds in three games to make the all-tournament team, along with teammate Billy Taflinger.
Indoor track and field
Trey Everett capped his sophomore season as an All-American, clearing 6 feet 9.75 inches to place third in the high jump at the national Division III indoor championships in Winston-Salem, N.C.
At the HCAC indoor meet, Everett won both the high jump and long jump with meet-record leaps of 6-9.5 and 23-2.75, respectively. He earned HCAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year honors while leading Bluffton's men to a third-place finish—the men's best showing since the conference indoor meet's inception in 2011.
Earlier in the season, Everett set the new school high jump standard at 6-11; recorded a meet record in the high jump at the All-Ohio championships, clearing 6-9.75 there; and broke the Bluffton long jump record three times. He came within a half-inch of qualifying for nationals in the long jump as well.
Also victorious at the HCAC championships with a meet-record mark was sophomore Terrill Webb in the women's pole vault, clearing 10-11.75. Other Bluffton champions were junior Edgar Gonzalez in the weight throw (53-3.75) and freshman Sarah Hunter in the 400 meters (59.74 seconds). Hunter earned women's Freshman of the Year honors after adding a second-place finish in the 800.
Also during the season, Webb set a Bluffton record in the pole vault, at 11-7.75, and Hunter raced to school marks in both the 400 (59.55) and the 800 (2:18.86).
Women's basketball
Led by junior Taylor Whitaker, a first-team All-HCAC pick, and Macey Sheerer, the conference Freshman of the Year, the women's basketball team set a Bluffton record for most wins in a season, with 18. Sheerer was also a second-team all-conference choice, while junior Taylor Knight received honorable mention.
Spring
Softball
The softball team won 16 of its last 18 regular-season games and ended the season with a 26-16 record.
Earning first-team All-HCAC honors were three players—seniors Jessica Kuzara and Ariana Muffo, and junior Ashley Knippen. Kuzara was also named second-team All-Central Region by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, and won the Kathryn E. Little Award as Bluffton's outstanding senior female athlete. Muffo, meanwhile, was a member of the HCAC all-tournament team, along with Josie McElroy. McElroy and fellow freshman Jessie Madzia were second-team all-conference selections.
The team more than doubled the previous Bluffton record for home runs, with 50, and raised the record for slugging percentage by nearly 100 points, to .551. New school marks were also set in RBI (243), runs (274), total bases (621), doubles (83) and, on defense, double plays (26) and fielding percentage (.958). The team's .330 batting average tied the school record set last year.
Baseball
Leading the Beavers to Bluffton records in wins both in the HCAC (15) and overall (22) were first-team all-conference pick Mike Castro, a senior, and second-team selections T.J. Devore and Tyler Spalding, both seniors, and Luke Hickey, a sophomore.
The team also set single-season school records in saves (15), putouts (1,030), assists (464) and double plays (43), and its .963 fielding percentage was second only to the 1974 team in Bluffton baseball history.
Outdoor track and field
Trey Everett nearly replicated some of his indoor-season performances, winning the HCAC high jump and long jump titles—plus the triple jump—and qualifying for nationals in the high jump. He placed 14th in the nation with a leap of 6-6.75.
At the HCAC meet, Terrill Webb added a second outdoor pole vault championship to her two indoor titles in the event, and senior Jeff Parker claimed the javelin for the fourth consecutive year. His winning throw of 191-3 was just one inch off his Bluffton record. In addition, freshman D'Nae Reese placed second in the hammer throw.
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