Salem, Va. - The Rotary Club of Salem, Virginia has announced the recipients of the 2023 Jostens Trophy that represent the top male and female basketball student-athletes in Division III basketball. Wheaton's Tyson Cruickshank has been selected as this year's D3 men's basketball Jostens Trophy recipient. Cruickshank was chosen as the winner of the prestigious Jostens Trophy by a 27-person national selection committee composed of men and women from across the country. The committee features current and former athletic administrators and head coaches, past Jostens Trophy recipients, and select members of the Division III media.

The Jostens Trophy was created by the Rotary Club of Salem, Virginia, and sponsored by Jostens, Inc., to recognize the most outstanding men's and women's Division III basketball players of the year. The awards focus on three major criteria: basketball ability, academic prowess, and service to one's surrounding communities. The Jostens Trophy models the Rotary International motto of "Service Above Self" by recognizing those who truly fit the ideal of a well-rounded Division III student-athlete. The 2023 season marks the 25th time the Jostens Trophy honors have been awarded. Cruickshank's selection marks the second time that a Wheaton player has won the award (Aston Francis was the honoree in 2019). Wheaton is just the third school to have to winners of the award, joining Hamilton and Williams.
 
In addition to the Trophy, the Wooldridge Scholarship, a $1,000 donation, will be presented in Cruickshank's name to Wheaton College's general scholarship fund. The scholarship is named after Dan Wooldridge, a Salem Rotarian and the retired commissioner that founded the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), for his long-time dedication to Division III athletics.

This is the second national player of the year award for Cruickshank in as many weeks, as he became Wheaton's first NABC Division III Player of the Year last Wednesday. A two-time All-American, earning First Team honors from both the NABC and D3hoops.com. He was tabbed the Region VIII Player of the Year by both the NABC and D3hoops.com, as well as First Team All-Region honors. Cruickshank is a four-time All-CCIW honoree, adding three first team honors to a second team nod in 2019-20. This year, the CCIW coaches named him the Fred Young Most Outstanding Student-Athlete.

On the floor, Cruickshank is a dynamic playmaker. He scored 593 points this season, 18th in Division III this season, powered by a 19.3 per game average. He buried 90 three-pointers at 3.0 per contest, ranking fourth and 14th in the country, respectively. Cruickshank also created opportunities for his teammates, ranking 13th in Division III in assists with 155 at 5.2 per game. He was very efficient as a perimeter player, shooting 49.9-percent (200-of-401) from the field and 41.1 percent (90-of-219) from beyond the arc. He scored in double figures in 28-of-30 games played with 18 games of 20 or more points and three 30-point efforts. He registered a career-high 35 points in a late-January win at Carthage, and came up one shy of matching his personal scoring mark in his final game against Christopher Newport University in the NCAA quarterfinals.

In the classroom, Cruickshank graduated cum laude (3.65 GPA) in May 2022 with a Bachelor's Degree in Economics and is currently working towards a Master's Degree in Global Leadership. The perennial member of Wheaton's Dean's List earned Second Team Academic All-America honors from College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) last week. He has been honored four times on the CCIW Dave Wrath Academic All-Conference Team.

The Highlands Ranch, Colorado-native worked with the Wyldlife middle school youth ministry in the Wheaton area from 2018-22. In May 2019, Cruickshank was part of the Wheaton men's basketball team's sports ministry trip to Zimbabwe, helping spread the Gospel through basketball and testimonies to different groups of people. During that time, they played against professional teams and the Zimbabwe National Team and hosted multiple basketball camps for schools and communities across the country.