Titan Athletics holds a lot of talent from turf to track. Many athletes have been recognized for their efforts this April, from conference-level honors to national nominations. Here are just a few of them.
John Phillip Ferraro and his first CCIW weekly award
Catcher/infielder John Phillip Ferraro has brought the first CCIW weekly award to the Titan’s baseball this season. Being honored as Hitter of the Week is his first weekly award of his career, but not his first CCIW career honor.
Banging out three home runs and earning a hitting percentage of 1.118 is not something to be shy about. Ferraro started in four of five games that week, and he delivered.
Ferraro is a native of Oak Park, Ill. and studies business at Illinois Wesleyan. He earned Second-Team All CCIW honors in his first year with the Titans.
Raj Sethi: Two-time winner
Raj Sethi was selected the CCIW Men’s Golfer of the Week for the second time in his career. Sethi grabbed a third-place finish at the IWU Invite April 5-6, leading the Titans to a team title. The IWU Invite is the largest Division III men’s golf tournament in the country.
Sethi posted rounds of 69 and 72 to finish two-under par at 141 after 36 holes. He snatched the fifth top-five finish of his career, doing so among 228 other players on the green.
A native of Chandler, Ariz. and a senior physics major at Illinois Wesleyan, this is Sethi’s second weekly award of his career, previously earning the honor on Sept. 27, 2023.
Gavin Rohlwing: “he’s a freshman!”
Gavin Rohlwing, middle on the men’s volleyball team, picked up a Second Team All-CCIW honor at the end of the season.
Rohlwing was named the CCIW Defensive Player of the Week three times this season, earning the honor on Feb. 3, Feb. 10, and March 3. This is the most earned by a Titan.
Finishing with 81 blocks in total, Rohlwing set the new single-season record. The previous record was 51 blocks, and Rohlwing broke it 13 games into the season.
Rohlwing is the second men’s volleyball player to earn this honor, after now-assistant coach Mike Eastman.
Quinn Clifford and Evelyn Wilson: Titans do good
Titan Athletics now carries two additional Allstate NACDA Good Works nominees: Quinn Clifford from men’s golf and Evelyn Wilson from women’s track and field.
Clifford, a senior business major with Elite 26 and Academic All-America awards, is an active community member in the greater Central Illinois and Chicago areas.
At IWU, he is part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and promotes bystander intervention to help prevent power-based personal violence through Green Dot training and awareness.
Clifford has volunteered at the Ridge Country Club Junior Golf camp, organized other camps for marginalized kids in Chicago, packed meals for Feed My Starving Children, and served at Center for Hope Food Pantry.
He has participated in events with the American Red Cross, and countless activities with the Special Olympics.
Additionally, his service efforts have included working with Westminster Village Retirement Center, and participating in Polar Plunge.
Wilson is a senior marketing major who has earned Academic All-CCIW honors in the past two years. In addition to being IWU’s senior class president, Wilson has served as president of Sigma Kappa and the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, and is a class representative of Illinois Wesleyan’s Student Senate.
With Sigma Kappa, Wilson participates in monthly visits to Sugar Creek Assisted Living. She has also participated in Walk to End Alzheimer’s and volunteered with the Humane Society of Central Illinois.
On IWU’s campus, Wilson volunteers for the annual Halloween Canned Food Drive, Campus Clean-Up with Student Senate, and she helps with the High School Track and Field Indoor State Meet hosted at Shirk Center.
Additionally, Wilson served as a teacher’s assistant at St. Malachy School and Parish and helps at her alma mater’s concession stand at Geneseo High School.
