This award is sponsored by John and Jody Wheeler who have been involved in athletic activities of Christian high schools and colleges for many years. The Wheelers continue to actively participate in the area of athletics and wish to promote athletics in Christian colleges. They have chosen to do this by a special individual award for excellence.
The awards were established in order to enhance excellence in Christian track and field competition and to perpetuate the Christian philosophy and faith as exemplified through Christ-like track and field participation in NCCAA member institutions.
The NCCAA is pleased to announce
Greenville College’s Chelsea Gilles as its 2017 Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Wheeler Award recipient. Chelsea is senior from Groveland, Illinois.
As a Greenville College sprinter, Gilles has competed in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 4x100m, and 4x400m events. She holds the school record in the 400m (54.61). She has qualified for the NCCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championship this season in the 200m and 400m. The 2016 NCCAA National Champion in the 400m, Gilles has rewritten the record book at Greenville College. In all three of her previous seasons, she competed in the 200m, 400m, and 4x100m at the NCCAA National Championship. In the 400m, she progressed from seventh in 2014 to fifth in 2015 before winning last year. Her 4x100m relay team has placed fourth in 2014, seventh in 2015, and sixth in 2016. She finished between the 12th and 17th positions in the 200m every year.
Gilles has faced and overcome adversity. During the NCCAA indoor 400m competition in 2016, she became injured and was disappointed to find herself unable to compete three weeks later at the NCAA DIII Indoor Championships. She returned during the outdoor season, qualified for the NCAA DIII Outdoor Championships, and was an NCAA DIII All-American with a national runner-up performance. She continued her success in the NCCAA indoor 400m this year by winning the National Championship and placing third in the 200m. At this year’s NCAA DIII Indoor Championships, she was the national runner-up in the indoor 400m.
A team leader in a multitude of ways, Gilles has served as a volunteer academic mentor for the team’s study hall and an academic coach in the college’s tutoring program, which serves the entire campus. On the track, she is a leader at practice and volunteered to recruit for the program in the fall when the college’s track and field sprints coach departed. She has served as a resident chaplain on campus and as a site director off campus at Camp of Champions USA, a Christian summer camp where she has spent three summers working with 5-12 year old children.
Successful in the classroom as a physical education major with a GPA of 3.61, Gilles is a three-time USTFCCCA NCAA Division III Academic All-American, a four-time NCCAA Scholar-Athlete, a six-time All-Conference All-Academic team member, a member of Greenville College’s dean’s list, and a member of Who’s Who Among Students. This spring, she was selected to receive the college’s June Strahl Award, as its top female senior student-athlete, and the NCCAA's Indoor Track and Field Wheeler Award.
“It has been said that ‘Past performance is the best predictor of future behavior’ and if this is true, as I believe it is, Chelsea will be quite successful in all areas of life while caring for others and serving Jesus,” said Head Coach Brian Patton. “She desires to serve God by serving others, and God has blessed her with a great work ethic and great ability to perform individually under all conditions.”
Women’s Finalists
Jordan Goffner, Belhaven University
Aliah McPhaul, Belhaven University
Cashlee Rayas, Dallas Baptist University
Brooklyn Shumaker, Belhaven University
Tanisha Summerour, Emmanuel College
Previous Winners