Northwestern College to honor seven former athletes

Four Northwestern College graduates will be inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, Sept. 18. The honorees, along with the Raider Athletics Association Coaches of the Year and Barnabas Award recipient, will be recognized at a luncheon at 11 a.m. in the Vermeer South Dining Room and at halftime of the football game against Doane, which starts at 1:30 p.m.

Dr. Jeremy Bolluyt of Okoboji, Iowa; Karen (Hutson) Ettleman of Logan, Iowa; Ben Miller of Orange City; and Mitch Peschon of Rock Rapids, Iowa, will bring the number of Hall of Famers to 123. Brandt Carlson of Ankeny, Iowa, and Josh Potter of Chicago will receive Coach of the Year honors. The Barnabas Award—which recognizes Raiders who encouraged others to strive for their best performance athletically, academically and personally, and who used their sport as a way to bring others to a knowledge of Jesus Christ—will be bestowed upon Jessica (Wedel) Bulthuis of Prinsburg, Minnesota.

Bolluyt graduated from Northwestern in 1995 and earned NAIA All-American honors twice for the Red Raider track team. A sprinter and hurdler, he holds Northwestern’s school records for the 55-meter indoor high hurdles (:07.47) and 110-meter outdoor high hurdles (:14.30), both set in 1994. Bolluyt, a 1991 graduate of Spirit Lake High School, is chief medical officer at Lakes Regional Healthcare in Spirit Lake.

Ettleman, a 2015 alumna, earned NAIA All-American and Scholar-Athlete honors in both track and basketball. She was the national champion in the heptathlon at the 2015 outdoor meet. She placed second in both the long jump and heptathlon at the 2014 outdoor championship and finished third in the pentathlon at the 2015 indoor nationals. Ettleman closed her basketball career with 1,772 points, ranking ninth in school records. She is 12th in steals (202) and blocks (54). A 2015 CoSIDA Academic All-American in basketball, she is now a homemaker and freelance graphic designer.

Miller, who graduated from Northwestern in 2013, was a third team NAIA All-American as a junior and the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Player of the Year and a first team All-American as a senior. He also earned honorable mention All-American recognition in 2011. Miller is the fifth leading rebounder in Northwestern history with 915. He also is eighth in assists (447) and ninth in scoring (1,803). An assistant coach for the Red Raiders men’s basketball team since 2016, Miller graduated from Sioux Valley High School in Volga, South Dakota, in 2009.

Peschon, a 2015 Northwestern alumnus, was a second team All-American for the Red Raider baseball team as a junior and senior as well as the 2014 GPAC Player of the Year. He ranks first in school records in career runs (161) and at bats (644), and he is tied for first in home runs with 28. Peschon also is tied for fourth in career hits (206) and stolen bases (48). A 2011 graduate of Spirit Lake High School, Peschon is a fourth grade teacher at West Lyon Community School.

Carlson, who graduated from Northwestern in 1996, is the head boys basketball coach and a physical education teacher at Ankeny High School. He led the Hawks to the state championship in 2020, and his 2021 squad lost in the substate to Waukee, which went on to win the title. Carlson, whose Ankeny teams have compiled a 132-120 record overall, was an assistant men’s basketball coach at Northwestern from 2005 to 2016. He graduated from Aurelia [Iowa] High School in 1992.

Potter, a 2016 Northwestern alumnus, led the University of Chicago Lab School’s boys soccer team to the 2019 state championship. His team finished with a 22-3-2 record. Potter, who also coaches the girls soccer squad and serves as a physical education, health and wellness teacher, had a 55-9-5 record overall prior to this season. A 2012 graduate of Chicago Christian High School, he was a team captain while at Northwestern, where he also received GPAC Scholar-Athlete honors and the team’s Most Dedicated Player Award.

Bulthuis graduated from Northwestern in 2012 and was a four-year member of the basketball team. A 2012 NAIA Scholar-Athlete, she was a member of national championship squads her last three years at Northwestern. Bulthuis won team Hustle, Most Inspirational and Fruits of the Spirit awards. A 2008 graduate of James Valley Christian School, she teaches high school science and is an assistant track coach at Central Minnesota Christian School.

The public is invited to attend the luncheon. Tickets are $10 apiece. For more information, contact Jacki Goebel in Northwestern’s athletic department, 712-707-7280 or jacki.goebel@nwciowa.edu.