GLIAC -- Wayne State's Kayla Giroux and Northern Michigan's Dylan Kuehl have been selected as recipients of the 2025-26 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards.
Giroux, the 2025-26 GLIAC Volleyball Player of the Year and the GLIAC Offensive Player of the Year, led the Warriors to a share of the 2025 conference title and to the NCAA postseason.
Kuehl garnered two major awards in 2026, earning GLIAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year and GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year honors. The Wildcats won a share of the conference regular season championship and advanced to the NCAA regional semifinals.
The winners, awarded annually to one male and one female, were chosen from the male and female GLIAC Commissioner's Award honorees throughout the 2024-25 academic year, showcasing the top student-athletes both on the field and in the classroom.
Kayla Giroux • Volleyball • Wayne State University
Senior middle blocker Kayla Giroux (Flat Rock, Mich.) is Wayne State's fourth GLIAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honoree (first in seven years), the second female Warrior to be recognized and first female since WSU Hall of Famer Erika Barczak (dving) in 2008. This honor comes after Giroux became the first Warrior volleyball standout to twice be selected as a GLIAC Commissioner's Award recipient back in January. Giroux was honored as a College Sports Communicators (CSC) First Team Academic All-American, the first two-time Academic All-American in program history and WSU’s 26th two-time honoree regardless of sport. Overall, she was a five-time All-American (AVCA x2, CSC x2, D2CCA). During the 2025 season, Giroux paced the GLIAC and ranked 10th nationally in hitting percentage (.391) while churning out 447 kills, good for second in the league and 20th in Division II. That .391 hitting percentage is the second best in program history, a chart in which she also owns first and third place. Among the country's leaders, she was also 19th in points per set (4.68), 26th in kills per set (3.96), 33rd in total blocks (124), and 45th in blocks per set (1.10). On the Warriors' career charts, the middle blocker is slotted first in hitting percentage (.372), second in kills (1,425), fourth in block assists (349), fifth in total stops (417), seventh in kills per set (3.26), and ninth in solo blocks (68). Academically, the Global Supply Chain Management major graduated in 3.5 years and earned a spot on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term GPA 3.5+) all eight semesters, including her sixth and seventh terms with a 4.00 this past fall and winter. She maintained a 3.99 cumulative grade-point average along the way. The four-time First Team All-GLIAC selection (first in program history) was the 2022 GLIAC Freshman of the Year as well as the AVCA Midwest Freshman of the Year.
Dylan Kuehl • Basketball • Northern Michigan University
Northern Michigan men's basketball standout Dylan Kuehl has been named GLIAC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the first student-athlete in Northern Michigan history to earn the prestigious honor. Kuehl maintained a 3.65 GPA in Construction Management and was recently named to the GLIAC Academic Excellence Team. He was also selected to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America First Team, becoming one of just two NCAA Division II men's basketball players in the nation to earn both CSC Academic All-America First Team and Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) First Team All-America honors this season. On the court, Kuehl established himself as one of the premier players in Division II basketball. The Iron Ridge, Wisconsin, native was named the D2CCA Midwest Region Player of the Year, becoming the first Wildcat to receive the honor. He also swept the GLIAC's top individual awards, earning both Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year recognition. Kuehl averaged 21.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while shooting 55.2% from the field, helping lead Northern Michigan to a 28-7 record and the GLIAC regular season championship. He scored a career-high 41 points on 15-20 shooting in the regular-season finale against Parkside to clinch the conference title. Kuehl finished his career ranked second in program history with 2,197 points and leaves Northern Michigan as one of the most accomplished student-athletes in school history.
