Brinkruff and Kolpien Claim Taylor’s Top Honors
UPLAND, Ind. – Audrey Brinkruff and Kaleb Kolpien were named the winners of Taylor's annual Natalie Steele and Gates-Howard Awards, which recognize TU's top senior female and male student-athletes for excellence in competition, academics, character and leadership. Student-athletes are nominated for the prestigious honors and voted on by the Taylor head coaches.
Brinkruff was named the Natalie Steele Award recipient after graduating from Taylor with a 3.89 grade-point average in biology with plans to attend IU School of Medicine. The decorated student-athlete was a three-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Crossroads League selection, a two-time CSC Academic All-District recipient and a 2024 CSC Academic All-American.
In addition to her tremendous work in the classroom, Brinkruff was an impact performer for the Taylor cross country and track programs, racing to NAIA All-American honors for cross country in 2022 and for indoor track and field in the 5,000-meters in 2024. The two-time All-American piled up six All-Crossroads League performances, highlighted by an individual CL Championship this spring in the steeplechase and departs TU with top-10 times in program history in cross country, the outdoor 5,000-meters and the steeplechase.
"Audrey had a special collegiate career and developed into quite a special runner with a wonderful breakout race for us at our NAIA National Championship effort in 2022," said TU head cross country coach Quinn White. "Audrey has exceptional perseverance and has used that to succeed in both athletics and academics. Most importantly, Audrey uses her gifts to honor the Lord."
Kolpien was selected as the Gates-Howard Award recipient after graduating from TU with a 3.72 grade-point average in management. While making headlines with his productive lefty swing at the plate, Kolpien did strong work in the classroom as well, earning CSC Academic All-American accolades in 2023 and 2025, while also claiming a pair of NAIA Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Crossroads League honors.
Kolpien closed his time in Upland with NAIA All-American and Crossroad League Player-of-the-Year nods, as well as a fourth-straight All-CL selection. While powering the Trojan lineup to 40-plus wins and a CL Championship in each of his four seasons, Kolpien rapped out a program-record 98 hits in 2023 and 2025, and graduated as the program's all-time hits leader with 327 knocks, while ranking top-three in TU history in batting average (.406), on-base percentage (.492), slugging percentage (.588), runs (215) and doubles (64).
"I am so happy to see Kaleb recognized with this prestigious award," stated TU head baseball coach Kyle Gould. "He is the epitome of what a Taylor student-athlete should be about. A great student, a great athlete, and someone who takes their faith seriously. Kaleb will go down as the best hitter in Taylor history, and even more as a great teammate, a winner and someone who was easy to celebrate every step of the way."