2021 NSIC Britton & Kelly Award Winners Announced

BURNSVILLE, Minn. — The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) announced Minot State University’s Jordan Will as the 2021 Dr. William Britton Scholar-Athlete Award winner and Augustana University’s Kendall Cornick as the 2021 Willis R. Kelly Scholar-Athlete Award recipient. The Britton Scholar-Athlete Award for Academic Excellence, in its 37th year, recognizes the NSIC’s top male student-athlete and the Kelly Scholar-Athlete Award, in its 36th year, is presented to the NSIC’s top female student-athlete.  

The Britton Award was created in 1985 in honor of Dr. William Britton, a longtime faculty representative at Bemidji State University who served on the Athletic Board of Control of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference for 25 years. Britton retired from BSU in 1982 and passed away in March of 2019. 

The Kelly Award is named in honor of Willis R. Kelly, an associate professor of physical education at the University of Minnesota-Morris. A member of the NSIC Hall of Fame, Kelly also coordinated the Minnesota-Morris Physical Education Department from 1970-87. She became the first director of women’s intercollegiate athletics at Minnesota-Morris in 1976 and was later promoted to athletics director for the whole department. Kelly passed away in 1988.

The member institutions of the NSIC nominate one male and one female student-athlete for the Britton and Kelly Awards. The nominees must meet the following criteria: a grade point average of 3.5 or better (on a 4.0 scale); evidence of academic excellence beyond the minimum grade point average (scholarship prizes and other academic recognition), evidence of participation in the life of the institution, and evidence of participation in at least two-thirds of the varsity events of the individual’s primary sport. The award is voted on by the NSIC Faculty Athletic Representatives.

The 32 student-athletes nominated for the NSIC’s two most prestigious awards will also be honored as NSIC Male and Female Honor Student-Athletes of the Year at their respective institutions. Will and Cornick will each receive a $3,000 post-graduate scholarship.

Kendall Cornick, a native of Mason City, Iowa, is a senior majoring in biology and psychology at Augustana University. The Mason City High School graduate holds a 3.94 grade point average while excelling in softball for the Vikings. Cornick is the first student-athlete from Augustana to earn the NSIC Kelly Award.  
Cornick made the Dean’s list every semester at Augustana, was a 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-American & 2019 All-District, a NSIC Myles Brand Award winner and member of the NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence.  
Her research experience includes being a student research assistant in the Cognitive Psychology Lab at Augustana, investigating the effect of technology on creativity.  She has presented virtually at the Midwestern Psychological Association Conference and the Arthur Olsen Symposium in 2020.  Prior to that she participated in the 2019 Pediatric Student Research Program at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri where she was involved in the preliminary work investigating potential drug targets for medulloblastoma. In 2018, she was involved with the NIH funded NF1 Porcine Model Collaborative Research Program through the Biomedical Scholars Summer Undergraduate Research Program at the University of Iowa.
On campus, Cornick took part in Augustana’s Kidney Disease Screening and Awareness Program and served as the Director of Community Outreach where she helped reach out to underserved and underinsured populations in the Sioux Falls community to plan free kidney health screenings. She also served as a TA and tutor in the biology department on campus. 
On the diamond, Cornick leads the Vikings in batting average, on base percentage, hits, doubles and stolen bases so far this season, with her batting average and stolen bases leading the NSIC.  In the shortened 2020 season, she played and started in all 19 games in right field and was third on the team with 23 hits and a .365 average. She was also second on the Vikings with 18 runs scored, contributed three home runs, 14 RBI and two doubles. In 2019 she was part of the NCAA Division II National Championship Team.  She earned All-NSIC second team honors that season after she played in 68 games with 65 starts in left field. She led the team with 31 stolen bases in 32 attempts and hit .386 in 189 at-bats, which was third on the team. She scored a team-high 74 runs, which led the NSIC and was second in the nation. She capped off the 2019 season by driving in the go-ahead runs in the NCAA National Championship game vs. Texas A&M Kingsville.
In the community, Cornick volunteers with the National Alliance on Mental Illness as an Ending the Silence presenter, sharing with students, teachers, and parents an interactive, informative presentation concerning mental health challenges. She  also volunteered as a Pediatric Companion at the Sanford Children’s Hospital, assisting the nurses and Child Life Specialists with their care of the pediatric patients and preparation for special events. She also worked with surgical services at Avera McKennan Hospital and at Sanford Health, supporting the workflow of both hospital’s surgery departments.

Jordan Will, a native of Minot, North Dakota, is a senior triple majoring in accounting, finance and management at  Minot State University. The Bishop Ryan High School graduate holds a 4.00 grade point average while excelling in football & wrestling for the Beavers. Will joins Kowen O’Keefe (2015) as the only student-athletes from Minot State to earn the NSIC Britton Award.   
Will has been named to the President’s Honor List every semester; was the NSIC Elite 18 Award Winner for football in fall of 2020; awarded the Baldwin and Shirley Martz Scholarship, awarded the E. James McIntyre Scholarship; named the Great Plains Exceptional Scholar; recipient of the North Dakota University System ND Scholars Program award; North Dakota  Academic Scholarship recipient; named to the NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence multiple times; recipient of the NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award 2021; and National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-American (2018-2020). 
On campus, Will has volunteered at “Dancing for the Special Stars” (a fund-raiser for Special Olympics of North Dakota); participated in Minot State University Campus Clean-Up Day; volunteered to sell concessions at the arena to support MSU Beaver Boosters; and volunteered to help incoming freshman move into the dorms on campus.  
On the gridiron, Will started as a true freshman and has played every game since, 33 games in all.  He amassed 85 tackles, 16 tackles-for-loss, four sacks, forced two fumbles and recovered one as he earned All-NSIC honorable mention honors in 2018. On the mat, Will was team captain and owns a 43-13 career record.  He was the second NCAA national qualifier in Minot State history as he was NCAA Super Region V Champion at 285 pounds in 2019.  In 2021 he earned All-NSIC second team honors.   
 

2020-21 NSIC HONOR STUDENT ATHLETES