June 18, 2024
Ferris State spring sports standouts Jan Koupil, Brandon Wirth earn GLIAC honors for excellence on the field, in the classroom
Two Ferris State University spring sports standouts have earned 2024 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Commissioner's Award recognition for their accomplishments both on the field and in the classroom.
Ferris State senior men's tennis standout Jan Koupil, a native of Stockholm, Sweden, claimed the honor along with Bulldog senior track and field runner Brandon Wirth of Reed City.
The awards are bestowed after the fall, winter, and spring athletic seasons to six female and six male student-athletes of junior, senior, or graduate student status who excel both in the classroom and in competition.
Five Bulldogs earned the Commissioner’s Award this academic year, with Koupil and Wirth joining basketball player Chloe Idoni, volleyball player Leah Bylut, and football player Olalere Oladipo.
Koupil earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average. He was honored as a 2024 College Sports Communicators Academic All-America First Team selection this season. Koupil, who helped lead the Bulldogs to the 2024 GLIAC Regular Season and Tournament Championships, also claimed All-GLIAC First Team honors this spring.
He was 17-12 in overall doubles competition during the 2023-24 campaign and went 16-7 in singles action while playing at or near the top of the Ferris State lineup.
Koupil was ranked in the top 12 nationally in doubles play and advanced to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Cup National Small College Championships last fall. The two-time GLIAC Commissioner's Award honoree earned first-team all-conference honors in doubles play and second team mention in singles action this year.
He also claimed GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team honors for the fourth year in a row. His performance this campaign helped the Bulldogs reach the NCAA Tournament for the 27th time in school history, including the ninth year in a row.
Koupil earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average and is studying data science and analytics. Wirth is a Sports Communication major and earned a 3.94 GPA.
Wirth wrapped up a standout collegiate career, earning the GLIAC Commissioner's Award for the second time this spring.
As a graduate student this past year, Wirth placed fourth overall in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the GLIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships and ranks among the school's all-time top 10 leaders in the event. He also placed 12th in the mile at the GLIAC Indoor Championships and finished among the top 50 runners at last fall's GLIAC Cross Country Championships.
Additionally, Wirth earned GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team recognition for the fourth year in a row. Along with being a standout collegiate student-athlete, Wirth has also been active on campus and in the community, currently serving on the graduate level as a student in the Ferris State Athletics Department.
The College Sports Communicators Postgraduate Scholarship winner earned two Michigan Association of Broadcasters Awards this spring for his "Behind the Bulldogs" weekly podcast, which was tabbed the state's best.
Since the awards were first presented in 2007, the Bulldogs have now had a total of 87 student-athletes be recognized among the league's best, which ranks among the most of any school in the conference.