HAYS, Kan. – In advance of the 2026 GAC/MIAA Men’s Soccer Championships, the league office announced its all-conference teams, year-end superlative awards and academic honor roll. Regular-season champion Fort Hays State saw forward Len Valkema and midfielder Juan Linares named the Offensive Player and Midfielder of the Year, respectively. Valkema was also named a unanimous First Team All-Conference selection while Linares joined his teammate on the First Team. The duo split the conference's goals-leader title with nine through the regular season while the midfield ace led the GAC with 24 points - tied for 28th in NCAA Division II - after tallying a league-most six assists.
Rogers State defender Alex Laing defended his crown as the GAC/MIAA Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the fourth Hillcat to be lauded as the conference's defensive captain. Rogers State finished the regular season as the league's No. 2 seed with a 9-4-5 overall record and a 5-3-4 GAC stand, serving as the only league team to draw with top-seed No. 9 Fort Hays State.
Southern Nazarene freshman forward Wesley Rodriguez was heralded as the league's Newcomer of the Year. Rodriguez led Southern Nazarene with his team-most six goals, good enough for third in the league, to the No. 4 seed in the GAC Tournament with an 8-7-2 overall record and while being 5-5-2 in conference.
Fort Hays State head coach Alex Nichols completed the 2026 superlative awards for the GAC/MIAA. Following a 13-2-3 overall record, which included an unbeaten 11-0-1 conference mark, Coach Nichols was named the conference's Coach of the Year for the second season in a row. In three years at FHSU, Nichols has led the Tigers to a 46-7-10 overall record, a 30-2-4 conference stand and back-to-back regular season GAC/MIAA titles.
For their performance off the pitch, five student-athletes - Brandon O'Rourke, Daiki Okada, Alex Fletcher, Thomas Maestranzi and Yohsuke One - were recognized as GAC/MIAA Elite Scholar Student-Athletes. This honor highlights the GAC athletes who hold 4.0 GPAs with 70 or more hours completed. In addition, 66 student-athletes were chosen for the GAC/MIAA Men's Soccer Academic Honor Roll, reserved for sophomore, junior, senior and fifth-year student-athletes with at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA.
2026 GAC/MIAA MEN’S SOCCER AWARDS
Fort Hays State paced the conference with five First Team honorees, followed by Rogers State (3), Northeastern State (2), Southern Nazarene (2) and Ouachita Baptist (1). The Hillcats led the way with four Second Team recipients, followed by Fort Hays State (2), Northeastern State (2), Ouachita Baptist (2), Newman (2) and Southern Nazarene (1). Rogers State landed a league-high 11 all-conference honorees, followed by Fort Hays State (10), Southern Nazarene (5), Ouachita Baptist (5), Newman (5), Northeastern State (4) and Harding (2).
First Team: Len Valkema (FHSU), Brandon O'Rourke (RSU), Wesley Rodriguez (SNU), Carter Adams (NSU), Juan Linares (FHSU), Avelina Rosa (NSU), Mario Leal Vales (FHSU), Andrew Castellanos (OUA), Alex Laing (RSU), Tiago Moreira (SNU), Tom Vincent Bartoli (FHSU), Sam Ryder (RSU), Payton Roehrich (FHSU)
Second Team: Francisco Degiorgi (FHSU), Gian Filizzola (RSU), Harry Tremblez (NSU), Philip Bölk (OUA), Yohsuke Ono (NU), Tom Dixon (RSU), Oliver Hemlin (RSU), Bekir Lekic (SNU), JJ Espinosa (FHSU), Pau Ndaw-Codina (OUA), Gael Gonzalez (NU), Jack Smith (NSU), Tristan Miller (RSU)
Honorable Mention: Louis Bassett (RSU), Francesco Valenti (FHSU), Mario Lopez Ayuso (RSU), Francisco Chong (SNU), Ashton Medina (RSU), Daiki Okada (NU), Roy Santibanez (HU), Hunter Reck (OUA), Julius Petersson (FHSU), Alex Fletcher (RSU), Noah Legge (HU), Io Shono (NU), Aimar Aramendia (SNU), Isaac Murie (OUA), Guilherme Borges (NU)