Fr. Wilfred Theisen Award

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's University graduates Kevin Arthur '24 (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) and Nate Loxtercamp '24 (Richmond, Minn./Melrose Area) were named the co-recipients of the 2024 Fr. Wilfred Theisen Student-Athlete of the Year Award, sponsored by the J-Club, on Thursday, Sept. 19. 

The award recognizes an SJU varsity, senior student-athlete (or two) who has excelled in the classroom and in their sport.

Arthur and Loxtercamp will be honored on Homecoming Saturday – Oct. 5 – at the J-Club Hall of Honor banquet. The dinner and enshrinement ceremony begins at 5:15 p.m. in Guild Hall (Old Gym). A Homecoming Celebration social will take place outside the venue following the Johnnies' football game against Augsburg in Clemens Stadium prior to the dinner and program. 

Registration is $75 per person before Sept. 29 ($100 per person after) and includes dinner and beverages. Children ages 6-12 are $35 and those five-and-under are free. All proceeds go to the J-Club to support SJU athletics.

To register to attend, click here.

Kevin Arthur
The first student-athlete to be named the MIAC Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year three-consecutive seasons (2022-24), Arthur was a five-time All-American, nine-time MIAC champion and nine-time NCAA qualifier. He earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) second-team All-America honors with a 15th-place finish in the 60-meter dash at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March and followed that with two more - fifth-place in the 100- and 11th-place in the 200-meter dashes – at outdoor nationals in May. 

Arthur was a nine-time All-Region and 16-time All-MIAC (top three) honoree. He is the owner of three SJU individual records – indoor 60-meter dash (6.78), indoor 200-meter dash (21.70) and outdoor 200-meter dash (20.68) – and was part of setting the Johnnies' 4x100-meter relay record (40.65) in 2022. Arthur set MIAC Championship meet records in the 100- (10.32) and 200- (20.68) meter dashes in May. His time in the 200 is the conference's best all-time. 

He enlisted in the Army Reserve as a junior in high school, completed basic training after graduation in the spring of 2019 and did not enroll at SJU until the semester break in January 2020.

Nate Loxtercamp
A three-time Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-America Scholar and a 2024 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America at-large second-team honoree, Loxtercamp graduated in May with a 3.95 GPA in accounting. 

He ended his career as a two-time GCAA All-Region (2023 and 2024) and four-time All-MIAC (top 15 at MIAC Championships) honoree, including earning medalist honors in Fall 2022 (he was second in Fall 2021). Loxtercamp was a three-time Academic All-MIAC (minimum 3.5 GPA) and two-time CSC Academic All-District honoree. He was the NCAA Elite 90 Award recipient in 2022 for having the highest cumulative GPA among the student-athletes competing at the NCAA Championships. 

Loxtercamp was the MIAC Co-Player of the Year in 2022-23 and led SJU with a 72.8 average in 27 rounds, including 11 rounds at par or better, five top-five finishes and eight top-10 finishes (out of 11 events) in 2023-24. The 72.8 average tied the single-season program record set by Joe Schoolmeesters '09 in 2007-08. Loxtercamp ended his career second in SJU history with a 74.1 average in 84.5 rounds. Nearly a third of his collegiate rounds – 27 of 84.5 (32%) – were at par or better and he finished in the top 10 in 22 of the 37 events he played (top five in 15).

Theisen '52 taught physics at SJU for 47 years and was named professor emeritus upon his retirement in 2005. He is a former SJU faculty representative to the MIAC and continues as treasurer of the J-Club. He received the J-Club Distinguished Service Award in 2019, six years after the Student-Athlete of the Year Award was established in his honor.

SJU varsity coaches provide the award's nominations for the Fr. Wilfred Theisen Award and the J-Club Board makes the selection annually.

Founded in 1959, the J-Club is a dues-based booster organization of former Johnnie student-athletes, parents and fans, and plays a key role in support of the SJU varsity programs, intramurals and club sports. 

Past Fr. Wilfred Theisen Student-Athlete of the Year Award Recipients
2013 - Dennis Granath '13 (Golf)
2014 - Michael Coborn '14 (Soccer)
2015 - J.T. Ford '15 (Football)
2016 - Alex Niederloh '16 (Soccer)/Sam Sura '16 (Football)
2017 - Mack Farley '17 (Golf)/Carter Hanson '17 (Football)
2018 - Sam Olson '18 (Golf)
2019 - Will Gillach '19 (Football)/David Stokman '18 (Basketball)
2020 - Ben Bartch '20 (Football)
2021 - Tanner Dufault '21 (Hockey)/Brady Labine '21 (Track)
2022 - Maguire Petersen '22 (Track & Field)
2023 - Lloyd Young '23 (Cross Country/Track & Field)
2024 - Kevin Arthur (Track & Field)/Nate Loxtercamp '24 (Golf)