Contact: Brock Reisler, Assistant Executive Director, breisler@midwestconference.org
HILBERT, Wisconsin – The Midwest Conference (MWC) announced its Performers of the Week award recipients for games played November 2-8 2026, on Monday.
MWC sports information directors nominate student-athletes for the Performer of the Week honor by sport and vote as a committee to select the winners.
For the fall and winter seasons, Performers of the Week will be recognized every week on Monday (basketball, football) and Tuesday (swim and dive, volleyball) once their seasons have been triggered (three MWC institutions competing) and will conclude the week prior to the sport-specific Conference tournament/championship.
The Performer of the Week award winners are as follows:
Football Offensive Performer of the Week
Ethan Springer, Lake Forest College
Springer accounted for 388 yards of total offense in Lake Forest's 56-0 victory over Cornell on Saturday. In addition to completing 24 of 35 passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns, the junior rushed seven times for 94 yards and reached the end zone himself on an 82-yard run. He leads the nation in passing efficiency and yards per attempt and ranks among the top five in the country in completion percentage, passing touchdowns, passing yards, yards per completion, points responsible for, and total offense.
Football Defensive Performer of the Week
Kolton Jany, Illinois College
Jany led the IC defense with a big day in the win at Knox. He returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring and collected a game-high 11 tackles (six solo) with a pair of TFL’s for 12 yards and 1.5 sacks for 10 yards.
Football Special Teams Performer of the Week
Zach Tabibian, University of Chicago
Tabibian tied the University of Chicago school record on Saturday with 15 points in a single game, matching Mike Morzenti's record that has stood since 2002. The freshman was a perfect 9-9 on kicks in the win over Lawrence, making all six of his extra points and all three of his field goals. He made field goals from 27, 35, and 44 yards, and his 44-yard field goal at the end of the half set a new career-long field goal for Tabibian.
Men’s Basketball Performer of the Week
Kai Te Huki, Grinnell College
Te Huki led the Pioneers to a 2-0 start last weekend. He had 23 points, five rebounds and three assists in a 120-117 win at Greenville University on Friday morning. Te Huki followed it up with 32 points, including the game-winning three-pointer with 13 seconds left in overtime, in a 128-127 win against Covenant on Saturday. On the weekend he averaged 27.5 points per game, 3 rebounds per game and 2 assists per game while shooting 18-of-31 (.581) from the floor, 13-of-22 (.591) from the 3-point line and 6-of-8 (.750) from the free-throw line.
Women’s Basketball Performer of the Week
Nayeli Nidez Acuña, Knox College
In the season opener, Nidez Acuña set her career high in points with 31 against Elmhurst. She went 13-19 from the field and added eight rebounds. She was all over the court for the Prairie Fire in her 33 minutes of action.