ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Every year, the College of Saint Benedict athletic department has athletics that lead their teams, rank at the top of the MIAC and impress crowds and opponents on the field, the court, the ice, the pool and the track. In 2018-19, the accomplishments of two athletes stood above the rest.
 
Hunter Weiss, a sophomore with the CSB volleyball team, became the program's first First Team All-American in more than 20 years. Morgan Pierce, a senior on the cross country and track and field teams, won three conference titles in three different seasons of competition.
 
For their impressive performances and history seasons, Pierce and Weiss are CSB's co-Athletes of the Year for 2018-19. Weiss was a Rookie of the Year nominee as a first year in 2017-18, and Pierce was a nominee for Athlete of the Year as a junior last season.
 
Pierce made history for CSB athletics in her fourth and final season with the cross country and track and field programs by becoming the first athlete to win a MIAC title in three different seasons. She started her year by becoming CSB's second-ever MIAC cross country champion, won the MIAC indoor 5K title in February and completed the 5K sweep – and conference title trifecta – by winning the outdoor 5K in May in record-setting fashion.
 
Not only did Pierce become the school's second cross country champ, she also made history by becoming one of just five national qualifiers in CSB cross country history, and the program's first since 2005. After winning the MIAC title, she finished eighth at regions to qualify as an individual, and finished in the top 100 at nationals. During the indoor track and field season, Pierce won the 5K and earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention in the 3K, and ran top-four times in program history in both. She capped off her incredible year by setting school records in both the 5K and 10K at the MIAC Outdoor Championships, and earning All-MIAC in both events. She finished the year ranked in the top 40 in Division III in the 10K, and also earned USTFCCCA academic honors in cross country.
 
Pierce graduates with a pair of school records and three times in the top 10 in program history – including the second-best 6K time in CSB cross country history.
 
After a standout first year with the CSB volleyball program, Weiss only got better as a sophomore, and she wrapped up the season by becoming the program's first First Team All-American since 1993. She is just the fifth CSB volleyball player to earn first-team honors, and the first sophomore to earn a first-team nod since Amy Hagen in 1988. She is also the first First Team All-American for any CSB team sport since soccer standout Colleen Bouchard earned the honor in 2013.
 
Weiss led the MIAC and finished 26^th in the nation in total kills (425), and finished second in the MIAC and fourth in Division III with 142 total blocks. She played a key role in the team's trip to the Sweet 16 – its first since 2012 – in 2018 as she led Saint Benedict in kills in each of the team's three NCAA Tournament contests, including 18 kills and nine blocks in a 3-2 win over Minnesota-Morris in the second round.
 
Weiss, who finished third in the MIAC in both hitting percentage and blocks per set and top 20 in the nation in blocks per set, has 729 kills to her name after just two seasons with the CSB volleyball team. She has a career hitting percentage of .292 and 210 total blocks. After recording 304 kills as a first year and 425 as a sophomore, Weiss looks to become the first athlete to reach the 1,000-kill milestone for Saint Benedict since 2014.
 
As well as dominating at the net, Weiss was also dominant in the classroom in 2018-19. She became the fourth winner of the MIAC's Elite 22 Award in CSB history, and also earned Google Cloud Academic All-District honors after maintaining a 4.0 GPA with a biology major.