Brinks, MacDonald, Thiel Named Finalists for 2024 Roman-Canning Award

4/16/2024 4:48:00 PM | By: Deuce Zak, Senior Staff Writer

Zach Brinks, Lexi MacDonald, and Bricker Thiel did outstanding work in the community over the course of the last year.

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS – In June 2021, John Carroll Football alumni Matt Canning '95 and Greg Roman '94 established the Roman-Canning Award for Student Athlete Community Service. In the years since, the award has become a prestigious award for student-athletes devoted to service.

Drawing on the lasting impact of serving others, Roman and Canning created the award to foster and celebrate our student athletes commitment to serving others and the wider community. The award is given out on a yearly basis to a deserving senior student-athlete who has demonstrated a dedication to community service and a commitment to the Jesuit ideal of being Men and Women for Others.

The finalists for the 2023-2024 iteration of the award have been selected.

Zach Brinks, Lexi MacDonald, and Bricker Thiel are your finalists for this year's award.

The winner will be announced at the 2024 JCU SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) Blue Carpet Awards on Sunday, April 21, presented by The Blue Gold Club.

The student athlete will receive a $2,500 grant, while the awardee's athletic team will receive a $2,500 gift from the fund to support future community service initiatives and recognize the team's culture of service.

Zach Brinks

Zach, a standout golfer, will leave an indelible mark on the university community with his work on and off the course.

His service endeavor into relaunching the Carroll Ballers, one of the most successful service organizations on campus has created a community and activity much larger than himself, even taking into consideration the more than 157 hours he has spent building up the program.

The program involves John Carroll students spending Thursday and Friday evenings at the Detention Center in a youth mentorship program centering around basketball. Zach leads young men on a consistent basis, and has created an incredible service program.

Coach Mike Moran believes he is "the best leader he has seen" and his love for serving others and building people up will forever be remembered.

His success on the course also is nothing to sneeze at. With several strong finishes at tournaments across his four years, including medalist finishes and several Academic All-American/All-OAC honors.

Lexi MacDonald

A star libero for the volleyball team, MacDonald has done incredible work for the community and for the team.

Her list of service ventures is not a small one, and her passion for helping those in need is evident. She has participated in service at the Cleveland Food Bank with food drives, and helped with a pen pal project.

Lexi is a selfless individual who has demonstrated as such with her commitment to service off the floor and her play on the floor as a libero.

She totaled a whopping 1,488 digs in her career, playing one of the toughest positions on the floor as a libero. She has garnered several Academic All-OAC honors in her career, and has an all-tournament team honor from the 2022 OAC Tournament.

Bricker Thiel

The standout defensive end has had an illustrious career on the field, and made an even larger impact on the campus community.

The current president of the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit honor society has been instrumental in creating a non-profit that has helped thousands of people who struggle with food insecurity in the Cleveland area.

Bricker's non-profit organization More than Food, which he is the co-founder of with Brenden Swann, feeds breakfasts of breakfast burritos to those in need to promote smart diets while also feeding those who struggle with food insecurity. Bricker's non-profit has carried out 15 events and served over 5,000 individuals in its first year, its impact is already being felt in the Greater Cleveland area.

On the field, Bricker logged 140 tackles over forty games played in his career, including 34 tackles for loss and 18.5 sacks in four years.

Thiel has several accolades to his name, including multiple OAC Defensive First team nods and several All-Region selections, plus Academic All-American recognition from CoSIDA/College Sports Communicators.

Each of these finalists have done incredible work for the John Carroll community and changed the culture of the campus for the better. The JCU community looks forward to celebrating these finalists and naming the winner on Sunday, April 21 at the Blue Carpet Awards presented by the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) and the Blue Gold Club.

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