KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the first time in school history, the Ave Maria Sports Information Department earned their first wins in the annual NAIA-SIDA Publications Contests. Led by Director of Sports Information and the Voice of the Gyrenes Cooper Huskey, Ave Maria placed first in the Walt McAlexander Publications Contest for Game Notes, the Dr. Jack Bell Writing Contest for Game Recaps and the Digital Media Production Contest for Call of the Year.
"It is honor to be recognized by the NAIA in these end of the year contests," said Huskey.
The winning game notes were for the Gyrenes' Fab Four clash against the Langston Lions. Both Huskey and the National Broadcast used the games notes during their calls of the historic game for Men's Basketball. To view the notes, click
this link.
The winning game recap was after the Men's Basketball team won the Sun Conference Tournament for the second year in row, which can be found
here. This was continuing a trend as the story after the Gyrenes won the championship last season placed 10
th in the 2025 contest.
The 2026 Call of the Year ironically was against Ave Maria, but during the 2026 Sun Conference Baseball Tournament, which was broadcasted by the Gyrene Sports Network. The winning call was after a grand slam over the Green Monster at JetBlue Park tied the Webber Warriors with the Gyrenes at 13. Watch the clip
here.
Along with the three wins, Ave Maria earned eight more Top-10 finishes. AMU finished fourth in game day programs, third in game notes (along with the first place finish), sixth and ninth in sport posters, seventh in infographics, second and fifth in call of the year (along with the first place finish) and seventh in the website contest. Graduate Assistant Anna Huntzinger placed ninth in the sport poster contest.
Eleven Top-10 finishes is the most in school history. The previous high was six placements in the 2023-24 athletic season.
"At the start of the year, our goal was to match the 2023-24 season, but to double that up and even win a few contests is just a huge surprise and honor," said Huskey. "All I can really say is Good Night, God Bless and Go Gyrenes!"
