The MIAA has announced the winners of two awards honoring outstanding publicity efforts during the 2014-15 season by its member schools – the Hartman Writing Award and the Renner Associate SID Award.
Sarah Miesle, sports information director at Saint Mary’s College, has been named the recipient of the Hartman Award, while Grace Wheeler, a student assistant in Alma College’s sports information office, has been chosen to receive the Renner Award.
The awards honor two sports information directors who have given many years of service to the MIAA – the late Robin Hartman of Albion College and Tom Renner of Hope College.
Hartman served as Albion’s sports information director from 1987 to 2001 and is remembered as a pioneer in small college sports information with one of its first Web sites, and for using the Internet as a source for streaming audio play-by-play. He passed away in 2006.
Renner served as Hope’s sports information director for 47 years before stepping down from his position in 2013. He also was the MIAA publicist for 41 years (1967-2008) and still serves the league as its historian.
The Hartman Award honors outstanding writing in a sports information capacity, either by a sports information director or assistant, while the Renner Award honors outstanding efforts by student assistants in sports information offices at MIAA schools.
Sarah Miesle
Sarah Miesle has served as sports information director at Saint Mary’s College since 2008. She oversees all media coverage of the Belles’ eight intercollegiate sports, including design and development of athletic publications, social media, photography and statistical updates.
Miesle is being honored for “Bald for a Bigger Cause” - a story she wrote in March of this year on Saint Mary’s freshman basketball student-athlete Kelsey Trimble, who had her head shaved to raise money for the University of Notre Dame’s “Bald and the Beautiful” event, a fundraiser to fight cancer. Trimble raised more than $7,000 toward the cause, well above her stated goal of $5,000. Most of her Saint Mary’s teammates came out to support her as she had her head shaved the night of the event.
A native of Woodburn, Ind., Miesle is a 2007 Saint Mary’s graduate who played for four years on the Belles’ softball team. A 2006 All-MIAA first team selection, she ranks among the Belles’ career leaders in home runs with 16, and has two of the top five single-season RBI totals in school history with 39 in 2007 and 36 in 2006.
After earning her degree in mathematics from Saint Mary’s, Miesle was a sports information assistant at MIAA member Adrian College during the 2007-08 year. She then returned to her alma mater the following fall when the college’s SID position became available.
In addition to her work at Saint Mary’s, Miesle also assists in the sports information department at the University of Notre Dame.
Grace Wheeler
A native of St. Ignace, Mich. and graduate of St. Ignace LaSalle High School, Grace Wheeler worked in Alma College’s sports information office all four years she attended the school. She has performed nearly every possible responsibility within the Scots’ SID office, with the exception of internet broadcasting.
“(She) is, without a doubt, the best student worker/intern I have ever had in my 20-plus years of working in sports,” former Alma sports information director Mike Hanson said.
Wheeler began working with the Scots’ softball program as a freshman, eventually gaining the confidence to work as part of the sports information staff when Alma hosted the 2012 NCAA Division III softball regional, handling gameday responsibilities and postgame interviews.
Wheeler later became the main computer statistical inputter for Alma’s home football, volleyball, soccer and softball games, a responsibility she has held the last two years. Over the past two summers, she worked part-time in the SID office, preparing media guides and designing and laying out programs. She also took photos of Alma athletic events for three years.
Over the past year, Grace took on the responsibility of writing game stories for the Alma athletics website. During Scots’ run to the NCAA Division III softball national championships this spring, she wrote all the game recaps as well as a daily blog on the team. With some staffing changes in the Alma sports information office this spring, she served as the Scots’ primary media contact during the national championships.
In addition to her work in support of Alma athletics, Wheeler was a three-time letterwinner as a member of the Scots’ women’s basketball team. As a senior, she started all 25 games for Alma and led the team in rebounding (5.2 boards per game) and assists (48) while averaging 8.4 points per contest.
Wheeler graduated from Alma in April with a major in communications and a minor in business administration. She will attend graduate school at Central Michigan University in the fall, and has already been hired as a graduate assistant in CMU’s sports information office.
Grace Wheeler is the daughter of Betsy and Chuck Wheeler.