NWU Athletics
Ryley Egger, Sports Information Director
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Former Nebraska Wesleyan three-sport student-athlete, Andy Vasquez, has been named the 2019-2020 American Rivers Conference’s Duane Schroeder Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. It is the highest individual honor the A-R-C conference awards.
Vasquez becomes the first NWU male student-athlete to be tabbed with the accolade since the Prairie Wolves joined the conference in 2016. He is the second Nebraska Wesleyan student-athlete to receive the A-R-C Conference’s Scholar-Athlete award, joining Elizabeth Jones who won the award in 2019.
“After a year of turmoil like we’ve never seen, our Scholar-Athletes of the Year process added a welcome sense of normalcy,” said A-R-C Commissioner Chuck Yrigoyen.
“The process always produces young men and women whose accomplishments are anything but normal. I would like to thank the faculty athletics representatives and athletics staff members for their work in identifying this year’s impressive class of nominees. Andy Vasquez was an incredibly accomplished athlete who had a nearly perfect grade-point average. He made a mark in cross country at both the conference and national levels. Andy’s faith clearly motivated what he accomplished away from sports as he sought to help his fellow human being.”
The honor bolsters Vasquez’s career accomplishments. He was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America selection, as he earned first-team honors in 2019-2020 and second-team accolades in 2018-19. Vasquez also earned the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship last year. His academic achievements include being a three-time Cross Country All-Region selection and four-time Academic All-Conference performer in each of his three sports.
Along with his success in the classroom, Vasquez was a 2019 Cross Country All-American for the Prairie Wolves as he finished 19th at the NCAA Championship. In his career, he qualified for three NCAA Cross Country Championships and earned letters all four years in the three-sports he competed in.
Outside of the classroom and competition, Vasquez volunteered as a Liturgist at Mary Our Queen Catholic Church, while also serving as the Lector and Altar Server. His work involved him as the RCIA Sponsor of Adults Converting to the Catholic Faith at St. Thomas Aquinas Church. In 2018, Vasquez was an English teaching assistant at Southeast Community College and worked with Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation by mentoring incoming minority college students.
Vasquez is from Omaha, Nebraska and attended Omaha Burke High School. He is the son of Tim and Julie Vasquez.