Ripon College will present alumni awards Friday | Sports

Ripon College will honor 10 alumni with special awards Friday. These awards will be presented during Alumni Weekend at the 1851 Awards Dinner.

Distinguished Alumni Citation

➤ Nancy Wadley Keough ‘67 of Pebble Beach, Calif., for career achievements and service to the community.

She is a retired lawyer who served in the military as a public defender and in private practice.

Keough was an attorney with the U.S. Department of Agriculture until 1971. She then accepted a direct commission as a captain in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. She served on active duty for four years, including a one-year tour in Vietnam, and was awarded the Bronze Star and numerous other military honors. She is an expert marksman in the military and certified as a military judge.

After her service, Keough was a public defender with the Monterey County (California) Public Defender’s Office, retiring in 1999. She then returned to private practice in Pacific Grove and taught as an adjunct professor at Hartnell College.

At Ripon, she majored in politics and government and history.

➤ Justin W. Niebank ‘78 of Franklin, Tenn., for career achievements.

The three-time Grammy Award winner is one of the top mixers, engineers and producers in country music. Niebank’s honors include two CMA awards, nine ACM awards and 16 Music Row awards, given for the most top-10 albums in a given year.

In addition to his three individual Grammy Awards, he has been involved with more than 20 Grammy Award-winning records as a producer, engineer or mixer.

These include a Grammy as producer and engineer of Vince Gill’s “These Days” album, which won the Grammy Award for Country Album of the Year.

Niebank has worked with such artists as Taylor Swift on her “Speak Now,” “Fearless” and “Red” albums; Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Eric Clapton, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Carrie Underwood, Thomas Rhett, Willie Nelson, Lady A, George Strait and John Mellencamp.

He is an active conservationist involved with The Nature Conservancy, Wilderness Society, Sierra Club and National Park Foundation.

At Ripon, he majored in English and history. He is a native of Glencoe, Ill., and lives with his wife, Kathy Burdick-Niebank.

➤ Jerry L. Waukau ‘78 of Keshena, Wis., for service to the community.

Waukau is a member of the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. He has been the tribal health administrator at the Menominee Tribal Clinic in Keshena for 38 years. He was born and raised on the reservation and is an enrolled member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.

Prior to working in the health center, he was the administrator of the tribe for four years.

Waukau is chairman of the Wisconsin Tribal Health Director’s Association and serves on the faculty of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Pediatric Integrated Care Collaborative, which focuses on implementing trauma-informed integrated care in Native communities.

His honors include the Minority Health Leadership Award, Indian Health Services Exemplary Group Performance Award, Bemidji Area Director’s Award, Community-University Partnership Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Robert Wood Johnson Culture of Health Prize Award.

At Ripon, Waukau majored in anthropology and economics, and played basketball for three years under hall of fame coach Kermit “Doc” Weiske ‘50. He also attended an independent study program for ambulatory care administration from the University of Minnesota (1987-1988).

Waukau is a native of Neopit, Wis. He and his wife, Susan, have six children, Jerry Jr., Alan, Kristin, Joseph, Maria and Appolonia; and have raised a grandson and three foster children.

Outstanding Young Alumni Award

➤ James-Mark Ooko-Ombaka ‘16 of Mount Vernon, New York, for service to the community.

Ooko-Ombaka, a 2016 graduate of the College, is an account executive with GameTextures (GT), a remote work art production studio based in Seattle that for more than 10 years has been providing art and technical production services to various indie, AA and AAA studio projects in the video gaming industry.

He played a key leadership role in launching a number of civic tech innovations across Africa working for the Google and Gates Foundation’s Code for Africa, Africa’s largest civic technology, open data and data journalism initiative. Most recently, he led a project to launch a citizen feedback service in Kenya that allows citizens to share measurable feedback about public services with their public officials, thereby allowing the government to make measurable improvements to public service delivery.

Currently, he is pursuing his passion and interest in the gaming industry by growing the business overseas in American and European territories while helping create more opportunities for job creation and economic opportunities in gaming across Africa — “building a gaming industry for the next 1 billion players,” he says.

Ooko-Ombaka is a native of Nairobi, Kenya. At Ripon, he majored in sociology.

Athletic hall of fame

➤ Jacob L. Gahart ‘13 of Tucson, Ariz., football. Gahart is the assistant director of athletic facilities at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Gahart holds school records in career field goals (31), longest field goal (54 yards), most field goals in a season (15) and is tied for most field goals in a single game (three). He also ranks second in career scoring (261 points), single-season field goals (nine), longest field goal (47 yards); fourth in single-game field goals (two, four times); fifth in single-season field goals (seven); and seventh for longest field goal (45, two times).

He was an academic all-conference selection three times, was placed on the Beyond Sports College Network All-American First Team in 2011 and was a Fred Mitchell Award finalist in 2011.

At Ripon, he majored in history and exercise science.

➤ Taylor T. Koth ‘13 of Jackson, Wis., basketball, baseball.

Koth was an all-region selection and first-team all-conference player in both basketball and baseball, and the sixth player in the history of the Ripon College men’s basketball program to earn Midwest Conference Player of the Year honors. He achieved the accolade as a senior in 2013 after averaging 24 points per game, which was the fifth-highest scoring average in Division III, and 9.5 rebounds per game. Koth also was named first-team all-region and third-team all-American.

Koth ranks seventh in school history for career points (1,514), second in rebounding (721), ninth in free-throw percentage (82.5%) and eighth in points per game (17.6).

In his three baseball seasons, Koth recorded a batting average of .308, with 21 doubles, four triples, three home runs, 65 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. He played a role on three NCAA Division III conference championship teams.

He was a Central Region Gold Glove winner and a 2013 Jostens Award finalist.

At Ripon, Koth majored in exercise science and business management. He now is a key account manager with Gehl Foods in Germantown, Wis.

➤ Michelle M. Matter ‘13 of Fort Collins, Colorado, cross country, track and field.

Matter is one of the greatest long-distance runners in Ripon College history, participating in both cross country and track and field. In cross country, she was a four-time all-state performer, earning first-team honors three times, including a second-place finish at the 2012 Wisconsin Private College Championships.

Matter also earned all-conference honors three times, finishing sixth, 10th and 11th at the Midwest Conference Championships. At the end of her Ripon career, she held three of the top-10 times in school history, while also running a sub-24-minute time in the 6k seven times — more than anyone in program history.

An academic all-American in both sports during her senior season, Matter qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships twice, once in each sport.

In track and field, Matter set numerous school records. At the 2013 conference champion in outdoor steeplechase, Matter qualified for Division III nationals and was named Midwest Conference Performer of the Meet at the 2013 Outdoor Championships and NCAA Midwest Conference MVP.

At Ripon, she majored in communication. A native of Sussex, Wis., Matter earned her master’s degree in communication studies from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where she is finishing her Ph.D. and serving as the coordinator for the Undergraduate Research Ambassadors program.

➤ Adam D. Sellner ‘13 of Irmo, S.C., track and field.

Sellner is the owner of SellRey Supply LLC, a business he founded while attending Ripon College in 2011 and operated out of his dorm room.

SellRey specializes in board game, card, and comic sales. There are now more than 60 employees and eight brick-and-mortar locations across Kentucky and West Virginia with total sales exceeding $15 million in 2022.

As a Ripon student-athlete, Sellner was a track and field standout as a thrower. He is one of just two student-athletes in Ripon’s men’s program history to earn All-American honors more than once. In the hammer throw, Sellner qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships. He finished sixth in the nation in 2012 and seventh in 2013. Sellner also was a four-time conference champion in the hammer throw, a two-time conference silver medalist in weight throw and a three-time academic all-American. Ten years after graduation, Sellner still holds the Midwest Conference and school records in the hammer throw.

Sellner is a native of Barrington, Ill. At Ripon, he majored in business management and computer science.

➤ Kirk P. Wilderspin ‘99 of Batavia, Ill., football and baseball.

As a member of the Red Hawk baseball team, Wilderspin garnered All-Midwest Conference honors in 1996, 1997 and 1999 and was named to the NCAA Division III All-Region team in 1999.

He remains among the best pitchers in Ripon College history in six categories: appearances (third with 45); innings pitched (second with 251); wins (tied for third with 24); strikeouts (sixth with 177); complete games (fourth with 24); and shutouts (tied for second with four).

On the gridiron, Wilderspin led the Red Hawk football team in rushing during his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons. He was named an all-conference selection twice — first team in 1996 and second team in 1997.

At Ripon, he majored in economics and business management and was a member of AASA (Athletes Against Substance Abuse). He now works as an inside sales account manager with Hoffer Plastics.

A native of St. Charles, Ill., he lives in Batavia with his wife, Gina, and their sons, Blaise and Reeve. He also serves as president of the Batavia Youth Baseball Rookie League.

➤ Stephanie Rieuwpassa Willms ‘13 of Union Grove, Wis., softball.

Willms is arguably the best pitcher in Ripon College softball history. A two-time Midwest Conference Pitcher of the Year and four-time all-conference selection, her school records include the most career strikeouts with 498, which was the second-most in conference history at that time, and three of the top-four single-season strikeout totals.

Willms also holds the school record for most innings pitched in a game with 17, which came in a 1-0 win over Carroll in 2012.

At the plate, Willms holds the school record for career doubles with 44. A career .358 hitter, which ranks seventh in school history, Willms also ranks third in home runs (15), hits (149) and RBIs (78) and fourth in runs scored (95).

She was a member of the 2011 Midwest Conference Championship and NCAA Tournament team, helping the Red Hawks notch their first three NCAA playoff wins in program history. She was named to the NFCA All-Region Second Team and twice as Midwest Conference Pitcher of the Year.

At Ripon, she majored in exercise science.