Westmont College Athletics

By Ron Smith
September 17, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.)  Westmont senior Libby Dahlberg, a middle blocker on the Warrior volleyball team, was named the recipient of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' LeRoy Walker Champions of Character Award. Dahlberg is the first Westmont student-athlete to receive the award.
 
The Westmont Athletics awards committee recommended Dahlberg to the Golden State Athletic Conference. The awards committee for the GSAC, composed of three sports information directors, selected Dahlberg as the conference's nominee for the prestigious award.
 
"The conference could not think of a more deserving student-athlete than Libby Dahlberg for the Dr. LeRoy Walker Champions of Character Award," said GSAC commissioner Mike Daniels. "Libby is an embodiment of the five core values of the NAIA Champions of Character program.  It is very satisfying to have numerous student-athletes around our conference like Libby that achieve great success on and off the court but do it with high character."
 
The award was created to honor Dr. LeRoy Walker, a former president of the NAIA and President emeritus of the United States Olympic Committee. It recognizes a current student-athlete with at least a junior academic status who has demonstrated outstanding academic achievement, campus and community leadership embracing the five core character values of the NAIA Champions of Character initiative, athletic achievement and future ambition.
 
"Libby has been the most dominant player to come through our volleyball program," said Westmont head coach Patti Cook. "In her three years on the team, she has garnered a large number of awards including Conference Freshman of the Year, Conference Player of the Year, NAIA National Tournament team and All-American. She has led the team and the conference in hitting percentage and blocks and has led the nation in hitting percentage. Libby was a key factor during the past two seasons in which her team was undefeated in conference play."
 
Academically, Dalhlberg has excelled as a chemistry major and aspires to work in a lab, either in forensics or applied research. She also wants to continue playing volleyball abroad after graduation.
 
"Libby is a great chemistry student," said chemistry professor Stephen Contakes. "Libby is innovative, learns quickly and is a capable independent researcher. Libby's work in my research group involves the characterization of heteroleptic metal diamine complexes using X-ray crystallography and 1 and 2D Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technics.
 
"These technics generally are not taught in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum and, in the case of some through space techniques like Nuclear Overhauser Effect Spectroscopy (NOESY) and Rotating-frame nuclear Overhauser Effect correlation Spectroscopy (ROESY), even fell outside the faculty expertise available in our department. This meant that Libby had to learn about these techniques through reading the literature, plan appropriate experiments, carry them out, and interpret the results with minimal help. Nevertheless, she quickly mastered the necessary techniques at a level where she was able to generate informative data. She clearly has the sort of independent learning, problem-solving, and research management skills needed to make a significant impact in science."
 
Dahlberg's athletic and academic accomplishments are exceeded only by the quality of her character.
 
"Along with all of Libby's athletic achievements, she has demonstrated solid character," said Cook. "One of Libby's most endearing traits is her humility. When she absolutely dominates a game, she is quick to praise her teammates and always looks for how she can get better. Libby embodies the character trait of integrity and I have seen her stand up for what she knows is right, even when it is the unpopular opinion."
 
"I could compile an entire book with the amount of awards and accolades given to Dahlberg for her athletic achievement," said teammate Patty Kerman, "but her athletic prowess is not what defines Libby Dahlberg. She is definitely one of the most humble and genuine people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I am blessed to be a part of the Westmont volleyball program and Libby's presence makes that team really feel like a family. Libby genuinely cares for the well-being of each of her teammates and coaches and she is always making an effort to build stronger relationships with us.
 
"She inspires me to not only become a better volleyball player by bringing more intensity onto the court," continued Kerman, "she also has shown me how to be a kinder person by being dedicated to building relationships with people. She has taken me under her wing and has been a true friend and mentor to me by always giving me words of encouragement or helping study for tests or just including me in her plans and taking me out to movies. Libby Dahlberg is one of the most important people in my life, not just as a teammate, but as a friend and as a mentor as well."
 
Dahlberg will be presented with the award at the NAIA National Convention next April in Palm Beach, Florida.