Missouri Baptist Takes Home Three of Top Four Conference Awards;
Including Conference MVP Honors

Lebanon, Ill.. – Hernan Merino, a junior midfielder for Missouri Baptist University, has been named the 2005 American Midwest Conference Most Valuable Player. Merino, who hails from Guayaquil, Ecuador, recorded seven goals and four assists on the season while helping the Spartans to a conference title in 2005. Merino was also named to his second consecutive AMC All-Conference First-Team.

The AMC Freshman of the Year honor is goes to the the top first-year player  in the conference. This year's winner is forward Brock Chatman from Missouri Baptist University. Chatman led the Spartans in scoring with eight goals and six assists for 22 total points. Chatman, from St. Louis, Mo., played a key role in helping the Spartans to a score a conference best 28 goals during conference play.

The Newcomer of the Year honor is bestowed upon the top transfer student in the AMC, as voted on by league coaches. This year's winner is Sam Gelvin, a midfielder from Columbia College. Gelvin, who is orginally from St. Louis, Mo., scored two goals while adding two assists and playing solid defense.

The 2005 AMC Coach of the Year is Jared Embick from Missouri Baptist University. Embick led the Spartans to their first ever conference title, going 6-0-1 this year in conference play. He guided the Spartans to a 12-3-1 overall record and are currently ranked No. 13 in the NAIA. The Spartans have received an automatic bid into the NAIA Region V tournament which begins Nov. 9. 

The Fair Play & Sportsmanship Award is annually presented to one AMC men’s soccer squad based on two areas of sportsmanship. First, teams are awarded points based on their total number of red and yellow cards accumulated throughout the regular season. Second, AMC coaches vote on the squads, ranking their level of sportsmanship during their respective contests. The 2005 recipient of the Fair Play Award is the University of Illinois-Springfield.

A complete list of the 15-member first team, honorable mention squad and the academic all-conference team, is listed below. Members of the academic all-conference team have earned at least a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.

Columbia College
Micah Bolton, Matt Mueller, Ignacio Raul Recondo, Vladimir Roganovic and Mark Wilcox

Hannibal-LaGrange College
Matt Gordon, Aaron Long, Austin McDowell, Shawn Ohlms and Gilberto Romero

Harris-Stowe State College
David Beduh, Ezra Collins, Jon Lester, Josh Malone, Branko Popovic, Nathan Steinmetz, Agustin Villegas and Scot Vorwold

University of Illinois at Springfield
Andres Barcenas, Michael Hutchinson, Kenny Jackson, Curt Miller and John Petri

McKendree College
James Arnold, Steve DeMoulin, Santiago Duran, Santiago Hampton, Cole Harres, Scott Kutscher, Sean Neighbors, Tim Steeg and Jared Weston

Missouri Baptist University
Miles Abel, Joe Connon, Jared Eden, Michael Keane, Josh Lydon and Ricky Todd

William Woods University
Kevin Julian and Dan Woods

 Williams Baptist College
Paul Brown, Kevin Cox and Pablo Paredes

2005 Fair Play & Sportsmanship Award - University of Illinois- Springfield