BEMIDJI 鈥� The NSIC announced that Bemidji State football player Brice Peters and soccer player Katrina Barthelt were winners of the 2025 NSIC Honor Student-Athlete Award and will receive a post-graduate scholarship.
Peters and Barthelt were nominated for the league's prestigious Britton and Kelly Awards as top male and female student-athletes within the NSIC.
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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.
Augustana鈥檚 Liz Dierks was the 2025 Willis R. Kelly Scholar-Athlete Award winner, and Minnesota Duluth's Austin Andrews was the 2025 Dr. William Britton Scholar-Athlete Award winner.
Peters, an Exercise Science major at Bemidji State, earned a 3.62 GPA and was a NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence and College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District selection. On the field, Peters was an American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-American Second Team, D2CCA All-Super Region 4 Second Team and All-NSIC First Team selection.
Barthelt, an Exercise Science major at Bemidji State, achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA and was named an NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award winner and CSC Academic All-District selection. On the pitch, Barthelt led the Beavers in scoring and was the NSIC scoring champion with 25 points and 11 goals. She was named the NSIC Offensive Player of the Year and earned D2CCA All-Region First Team honors.
The Britton Award was created in 1985 in honor of Dr. William Britton, a longtime faculty representative at Bemidji State who served on the Athletic Board of Control for the NSIC for 25 years. Britton retired from BSU in 1982 and passed away in March 2019.
The Kelly Award is named in honor of Willis R. Kelly, an associate professor of physical education at 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.
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