Northwestern Names Hilton Garden Inn Athletes Of The Week :: Hannah Nielsen of women's lacrosse and Mike Kalina of baseball

May 5, 2008

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern has named junior Hannah Nielsen (Adelaide, Australia/Brighton Secondary) of women's lacrosse and senior Mike Kalina (Munster, Ind./Munster) of baseball as its Hilton Garden Inn Athletes of the Week.

Nielsen finished the weekend with six goals and 10 assists in helping the Wildcats achieve their sixth-consecutive ALC title. In the process, Nielsen broke the Northwestern all-time assist record by notching her 129th assist Sunday. She surpassed the previous record of 128, held by Wildcat assistant coach Lindsey Munday.

For her performance, Nielsen was named the ALC tournament MVP and to the ALC all-tournament team. Last week, she was recognized as the ALC Player of the Year.

Kalina led the Wildcats with a .636 batting average last week, collecting seven hits in 11 at-bats. The effort raised his season average to a team-best .421. The overall mark ranks third in the Big Ten.

Kalina hit safely in all four of Northwestern's games, including posting multi-hit contests in each of the team's first three games at Illinois. He enters Monday's series finale at Illinois with a six-game hitting streak, raising his batting average 23 points over the stretch.

For the complete weekly release, please click the above PDF link.