College Achievers: Naperville’s Kenzie Brower shines on the beach with UCLA’s national champions
An uncommon platform for an athlete from around these parts, Naperville Central High School graduate Kenzie Brower, a senior at UCLA, was named to the all-tournament team at the National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship.
Brower gained the honor with playing partner Mallory LaBreche, as UCLA blanked Stanford 3-0 to win the national title May 3 in Gulf Shores, Ala.
It was the 6-foot-1 Brower’s second straight all-tournament notice, after she and former partner Jessie Smith earned the award in 2025 during UCLA’s championship semifinal run.
This season, in the Bruins’ 3-2 semifinal victory over Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival Texas, Brower and LaBreche won the decisive match 21-15, 28-26.
An outside hitter and middle blocker at Naperville Central, Brower’s nine NCAA Tournament wins at UCLA — she went 3-0 this spring — rank eighth in program history. She won 18 matches this season to give her 70 overall, 21st all-time for the Bruins.
The psychobiology major was named to the MPSF All-Academic Team for a second straight year. Five times she made the UCLA Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.
BMOC
The University of Chicago handed out its top athletic awards at the annual Order of the C Banquet. One of the biggest is the Mary Jean Mulvaney Scholar-Athlete Award for the senior with the highest GPA during their junior and senior years. Senior football player Zach Meyer (Barrington) took that one home.
A member of the 2025 National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society, the defensive lineman was a four-time All-Midwest Conference selection. On the field last fall, Meyer was a first-team All-Midwest pick who led Chicago with 5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss, and was voted the Maroons’ team MVP.
Maroons unite
At No. 4 singles, University of Chicago junior Michael Choi (Wheaton Warrenville South) won a key match to help the Maroons win their third NCAA Division III men’s tennis championship in five seasons, 4-3 over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Winning his first set 6-1, Choi fell behind 5-2 in the second set before he rallied to win 6-1, 7-6 (7-4). Choi finished 14-1 this season with several matches unfinished. As a sophomore in 2025 he went 23-4 in singles, leading the Maroons in victories.
‘A remarkable leader’
In Boston, Emerson College senior women’s lacrosse player Holland Rutter (Hampshire) was named to the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference spring sportsmanship team. The midfielder — a sports communications major — was fourth on the team with 35 points in her best season for the Lions. Coach Jessie Koffman also appreciated her overall attitude.
Calling Rutter “a remarkable leader,” the coach added, “No matter the outcome, she led by example with grace, dignity, and a smile.”
Go Bears
Winning an individual honor at the annual Scholar-Champions Awards at Washington University in St. Louis means a lot.
Senior women’s volleyball player Sam Buckley (Benet Academy) won the entire Bears’ athletic program’s Distinguished Athlete Award. The former American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III freshman of the year and a four-time first-team pick in the University Athletic Association, the setter became the first Washington woman to surpass 5,000 assists, finishing with 5,394. Buckley drew AVCA All-America honors each of her four seasons and this past season was named to the UAA Presidents Council Scholar-Athlete Team.
Freshman swimmer Parker Chan (Hinsdale South) was named Washington athletics’ male “rookie of the year.” He got the same award in the UAA after winning the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle swims at the conference meet. Chan set a program record in the 1,000-yard freestyle, finished second at the NCAA Championships in the 500 and in the 1,650 — another program record there — placed eighth in the 200 butterfly and helped the Bears finish ninth in the 800 freestyle relay.