Basketball players Riley Farris and Sydney Candelaria grabbed top honors as Fort Lewis College’s male and female athletes of the year during the 2021-22 Skyler Awards ceremony last week.
Farris, a three-time first team All-RMAC performer, ended his career averaging 19.1 points per game while shooting 51.3% from the field. The senior reached double-digit points on all but three occasions this year while putting up a season-high 31 points versus Eastern New Mexico. Farris was the team’s leading rebounder at 6.2 boards per game.
Farris finished with 2,073 career points – the most in school history.
Candelaria upped her game in her final season, averaging 21.4 points per game to lead the conference and rank fifth in NCAA Division II. She put up double-digit points in all but two games this year while surpassing 30 points four times. Candelaria’s 578 points represent a single-season high at FLC.
Her 21.4 points per game rank first in program history, and her 154 free throws also serve as the best all-time.
Durangoan Max Hyson and Rylee Johnson were named the Don Whalen Academic Athletes of the year.
Hyson, an Academic First Team All-RMAC member, started every game for the football team on the defensive line. Hyson is working with Dr. David Blake as part of a senior thesis project, studying Leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease found in the tropics, subtropics and southern Europe. He hopes to apply to medical school and works an ER tech on nights and weekends. The senior biology major boasts a 3.86 GPA.
Hyson made 74 tackles and a team-high 10.5 tackles for a loss with two sacks and a fumble recovery.
Volleyball player Johnson is a two year member of the RMAC honor roll, studying cell and molecular biology with a minor in nutrition and a prehealth certificate. She has done research work under Dr. Sherell Byrd examining Quercetins effects on metastasis in A375 melanoma cells and LS174T colon cancer cells.
Johnson was a mainstay at middle blocker for Skyhawks volleyball throughout her three seasons, but an injury sidelined her for most of the past season.
The FLC’s men’s basketball team was named the team of the year, while its coaches were named the coaching staff of the year.
Coach Bob Pietrack and assistant coach Ty Danielson led the men’s basketball team to a 15-6 RMAC record and 19-9 overall, including a 9-2 road record. The team put together an 8-game winning streak with six in a row on the road, finishing third in the RMAC heading into the conference tournament. The Skyhawks averaged 84 points per game to lead the RMAC in points (2,353), and three-point percentage (38.9%).
The play of year went FLC golfers Nick Krantz and Darren Edwards for sinking a hole in one in back-to-back weekends. Krantz accomplished the feat on a 225-yard par 3 at the RJGA Palm Valley Classic in Goodyear, Arizona. Edwards then found the bottom of the cup on a 197-yard par 3 at the Southern Colorado Masters, held at the Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo.
The FLC men’s soccer team’s 4-3 win over UCCS on Oct. 17 was named the game of the year. The game was tied at 2-2 at halftime, but the Mountain Lions gained the upper hand on a penalty kick in the 51st minute. Brantley Bice tied the game again in the 82nd minute on a free kick around a UCCS wall.
With time winding down, Tomas Duenes settled a scramble just outside the box and saw an opening. His shot found space to the right of both the defender and keeper, giving FLC a 4-3 advantage in the 86th minute and sending the Skyhawks sprinting to celebrate in front of its home crowd.
Duenes was also named the male newcomer of the year. The RMAC freshman of the year and second-team honoree had a 15-point season, tying for the team lead with seven goals. Five of his goals came in FLC’s final eight games. He also netted game-winning goals against CSU Pueblo and UCCS.
Softball player Alex Tenorio, meanwhile, was named the female newcomer of the year. The freshman shortstop ranks second in the RMAC with eight triples. She also leads the team with 52 hits, 88 total bases, four home runs and nine stolen bases. She has started all 45 games, recording 72 putouts, 92 assists and 10 double plays to rank eighth in the conference. Tenorio also made a diving play to secure head coach Dwight Sanders’ first win at the helm, and hit a two-run home run to center that led FLC to a 6-4 win over MSU Denver.
Makena Carter and Zach Russell were named the comeback players of the year.
Russell, a tight end on the football team, has battled spinal fractures which left him in serious pain and at risk of further injury while playing a contact sport. Russell dedicated his free time to rehab in the athletic training room and rejoined the team for most of its games.
Carter, a junior defender on the women’s lacrosse team, suffered a torn hip labrum and surgery. After extended work with her athletic trainer, she returned to the field this season and recorded 11 ground balls, caused five turnovers and scored five goals.
Football player Ethan Vlchek received the Skyler spirit award. The redshirt sophomore offensive lineman is the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, a member of the Sexual Health Advisory Committee, serves as the Title IX liaison for athletics, sits as a student-athlete peer representative, and recently played in his third season.
Bob Bonnar, “Voice of the Skyhawks,” served as the event’s master of ceremonies.
