Staff photo by Travis Rosenau KNUJ Girls Basketball Player of the Year Morgan Mathiowetz and KNUJ Wrestler of the Year pose for a photo following the 63rd annual KNUJ Player of the Year Event at the Best Western Plus in New Ulm on Tuesday. BOLD’s Jack Gross won the KNUJ Boys Player of the Year but was unable to attend.

NEW ULM — The 63rd annual KNUJ Player of the Year Event was held at the Best Western Plus on Tuesday night, with three KNUJ area athletes taking home trophies for their standout winter seasons of athletics.

The KNUJ Girls Basketball Player of the Year was Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s sophomore Morgan Mathiowetz. The KNUJ Wrestler of the Year was Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area senior Nick Slater. The KNUJ Boys Basketball Player of the Year was BOLD senior Jack Gross.

The Player of the Years were selected from a list of athletes that won a KNUJ Player of the Week honor throughout the season.

The Girls Basketball Player of the Year was announced first and given to Mathiowetz, who had an All-State, All-Conference, All-Journal season that saw her average 33.6 points per game. She also scored a school record 1,143 points this season and passed 2,000 for her career and now sits at 2,519 points for her career. She also had 8.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 5.6 steals per game as the Knights finished fourth in the Class A State Girls Basketball Tournament.

The Wrestler of the Year was announced next and given to Nicollet High School’s Nick Slater, who took home a Class A state individual championship at 189 pounds. He became the 10th wrestler in school history to win a state title and finished with 187 career wins, third in school history.

Slater was also the KNUJ Wrestler of the Year last season and was All-Journal Co-Wrestler of the Year last season also in addition to finishing this season as the All-Journal Wrestler of the Year.

The KNUJ Boys Basketball Player of the Year was announced last and BOLD’s Jack Gross was awarded the honor after helping his team make this year’s Class A State Boys Basketball Tournament. The 6-5 guard averaged 21.3 points per game, 5.4 rebounds per game and 5.3 assists per game, passing 2,000 points for his career during the state tournament this year and finishing with 2,032 for his career.