OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha Sports Commission announced Tuesday that the Mavericks are nominees for four honors as part of their annual OSCAS ceremony, celebrating the best in Omaha area sports. In addition, the 2015 Omaha hockey team will be inducted into the Omaha Sports Hall of Fame at its seventh awards show on Thursday, May 29, at the Relevant Center.
Men's basketball head coach Chris Crutchfield is up for Male Coach of the Year, the 2024-25 Omaha team is in the running for Team of the Year and its viral trash can skit is up for Moment of the Year.
Softball head coach Mike Heard is also a hopeful for the Male Coach of the Year, and former Maverick softball pitcher Kamryn Meyer (2020-25) is a nominee for Female Athlete of the Year.
The 2015 Maverick hockey team, which made a trip to the Frozen Four in Boston and finished as semifinalists, became the first hockey team to be inducted into the Omaha Sports Hall of Fame.
Crutchfield led Omaha to a program record of 22 wins, including 16 against conference opponents. The 2025 Summit League Coach of the Year won the conference's season and tournament titles, both of which are firsts in school history, in his third season at the helm of the program. Marquel Sutton was named the Summit League Player of the Year and the conference tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Sutton, along with JJ White and Ja'Sean Glover, received All-Conference honors.
The team won nine-straight games during the season, the longest streak since the Mavericks moved to Division I and the third-longest all-time for Omaha. The Mavericks' offense ranked second in the Summit League, averaging 84.2 points per game and boasted the Summit League's scoring margin at 7.3.
Heard was the 2024 Summit League Coach of the Year and led the Mavericks to a conference tournament title for a second-straight year. The Mavericks were also an NCAA Championship Columbia Regional Finalist and went 43-15, etching the most wins by an Omaha team in the Division I era.
Omaha softball earned a Division I-era best 16-game winning streak from March 2-April 5 and went 12-2 at home, 14-5 on the road and 11-5 in neutral site contests.
The 2024 Mavericks held the nation's longest win streak in Division I when they defeated St. Thomas in their 15th-straight game on April 5. Nine Mavericks earned All-Conference Honors in 2024.
Meyer, a key piece in the 2024 softball team, was the Summit League Pitcher of the Year. Dubbed the "Queen of Ks," she struck out the second-most batters in league play (75) and recorded a 0.63 ERA, giving up only six earned runs heading into the Summit League Tournament.
The former Maverick finished the season with a 1.62 ERA, 24th-best in Division I. The Wilton, Iowa native had a 3.92 strikeout-to-walk ration, 251 total strikeouts (fourth most in Division I), 27 wins (seventh most in Division I), held opponents to a .188 batting average and finished her five-year Omaha career with the most strikeouts in program history (1,031).
In Omaha Hockey's 28 seasons in Division I, the 2015 Mavericks are the sole team to earn a trip to the national semifinal.
Forward Austin Ortega (2013-17) led the Mavericks with 20 goals, and fellow forward, two-time NHL All-Star and 2017 Stanley Cup Champion Jake Guentzel (2013-2016) led the team with 25 assists and 39 points.
Ortega's 13 game-winning goals from the season are the most in Omaha history.
Goaltender Ryan Massa (2011-14) led the NCHC and ranked sixth in Division I with 1.96 goals against average (program record), was tied for first in the nation with a .939 save percentage (program record), recorded two shutouts and posted a 14-8-6 record in 29 games (28 starts). An average of 2.31 goals against per game as a team is still a program-high in a single season.
The 2015 Mavericks collected 20 wins, which was tied for the fourth-most at the time (sixth today). The Mavericks' 13 losses were the fewest in a single season at the time (tied for the second-least today).
Brian O'Rourke and Dominic Zombo served as the 2015 team captains.
Learn more about the 2025 OSCAS and the Omaha Sports Commission at omahasports.org/OSCAS.
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