Kenosha Reporter

Bethany Lutheran Athletics issued the following announcement on March 3.

ST. PAUL--Bethany Lutheran led all institutions with four players selected to one of the three all-conference lists and grabbed the other two major awards, the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) announced Tuesday. Riley Ashburn was selected as the Rookie of the Year, while Jared Milinkovich earned the inaugural Defensive Player of the Year award. 

Bethany Lutheran was among the top defensive teams in the conference which led to its tie for the runner-up spot in the standings at 9-5. Leading the defensive efforts was senior Milinkovich who was the favorite of the coaches for the first-ever Defensive Player of the Year award. Milinkovich led a Viking defense that forced 14.1 turnovers per game against UMAC teams. The Vikings also were first in blocks per game (3.9) and defensive rebounds (33.3 rpg) and second in steals per game (7.9 spg). Milinkovich averaged 1.1 spg and 0.4 bpg in UMAC play. He also averaged 4.7 rebounds per game. 

While Milinkovich provided senior leadership, Ashburn is a rising star for the Vikings. The rookie was 10th in the UMAC in rebounding (5.8 rpg) to lead all first-year players. He also added 6.8 ppg and shot 50 percent from the field. He scored in double figures on three occasions and tallied his first collegiate double double on Feb. 4 against Northland College scoring 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Milinkovich headlined a short list of just five players that have been named to one of the three All-UMAC lists three times in their careers. Alm and Brian Smith of the Vikings are the only two of the four to have been selected First-team this season and in 2020-21. Micah Filer (North Central University) and Cire Mayfield (Bethany Lutheran) also join the elite group earning three honors in the last four seasons. 

Five other players have been selected to one of the three All-UMAC squads in their careers including Jordan Brennan (Northland), Kyle Kaemingk (Northwestern), Hunter Nielsen (Bethany Lutheran), Seth Royston (Crown) and Eli Vogel (University of Wisconsin-Superior). 

Player of the Year Award* – Noah Alm, Sr., Northwestern

Defensive Player of the Year Award% – Jared Milinkovich, Sr., Bethany Lutheran

Rookie of the Year Award# – Riley Ashburn, Fy., Bethany Lutheran

Coach of the Year Award – Tim Grosz, Northwestern

First-Team UMAC All-Conference

Name	Year	School	Position	Hometown/High School
Noah Alm*	Sr.	Northwestern	Guard	Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake
Cade Carroll	Jr.	Crown	Guard	Buena Vista, Colo./Buena Vista
Justin Castro	Sr.	North Central	Guard	Kissimmee, Fla./Gateway
Micah Filer	Sr.	North Central	Guard	Sacramento, Calif./Capital Christian
Brian Smith	Sr.	Bethany Lutheran	Guard	Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park

Second-Team UMAC All-Conference

Name	Year	School	Position	Hometown/High School
Jordan Brennan	Jr.	Northland	Guard	Ashland, Wis./Ashland
Noah Kannegiesser	Jr.	Minnesota Morris	Guard	Hancock, Minn./Hancock
Kyle Kaemingk	Jr.	Northwestern	Forward	Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy
Hunter Nielsen	Jr.	Bethany Lutheran	Forward	New Prague, Minn./New Prague
Xavier Patterson	So.	Wisconsin-Superior	Guard	Superior, Wis./Superior

Honorable Mention UMAC All-Conference

Name	Year	School	Position	Hometown/High School
Henry Fahnbulleh	So.	Northwestern	Forward	Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove
Jack Heichelbech	Sr.	Martin Luther	Forward	Pewaukee, Wis./Luther Prep
Cire Mayfield	Sr.	Bethany Lutheran	Guard	St. Louis Park, Minn./St. Louis Park
Jared Milinkovich	Sr.	Bethany Lutheran	Guard	New Prague, Minn./New Prague
Seth Royston	Sr.	Crown	Forward	Leroy, Minn.
Jacob Van Dam	So.	Crown	Guard	Edgerton, Minn./Southwest Minnesota Christian
Eli Vogel	Jr.	Wisconsin-Superior	Guard	Appleton, Wis./Appleton West

UMAC All-Defensive Team

Name	Year	School	Position	Hometown/High School
Mason Ackley	Jr.	Wisconsin-Superior	Guard	Superior, Wis./Superior
Justin Castro	Sr.	North Central	Guard	Kissimmee, Fla./Gateway
Henry Fahnbulleh	So.	Northwestern	Forward	Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove
Jared Milinkovich%	Sr.	Bethany Lutheran	Guard	New Prague, Minn./New Prague
Seth Royston	Sr.	Crown	Forward	Leroy, Minn.
Harley Shear	Sr.	Northland	Guard	Iowa City, Iowa/West
Caleb Waldeck	Sr.	Northwestern	Guard	Newhall, Calif./Hart

UMAC Sportsmanship Awards

Team Award – Martin Luther

Bethany Lutheran – Jacob Milinkovich, Sr., New Prague, Minn./New Prague

Crown – Seth Royston, Sr., Leroy, Minn.

Martin Luther – Jacob Price, Sr., Weston, Wis./Northland Lutheran

Minnesota Morris – James Pendleton, Sr., Redwood Falls, Minn./Redwood Valley

North Central – Eddie Speller, Jr., Fy., Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer

Northland – Kade Panich, So., Wautoma, Wis./Wautoma

Northwestern – Caleb Hoilien, So., Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy

Wisconsin-Superior – Carter Brown, Sr., Eau Claire, Wis./Regis Catholic

Original source can be found here.