A-R-C Defensive Player of the Year Celebrates Basketball Award While Competing in Softball
Olivia Larsen, a student-athlete who competes on both the Beavers women's basketball and softball teams, earned the American Rivers Conference Defensive Player of the Year for her performance this year on the women's basketball team.
The news that Olivia Larsen earned Defensive Player of the Year honors for the American Rivers Conference in women’s basketball this season came as a bit of a surprise.
To Olivia Larsen, at least.
“I didn’t know the American Rivers Conference had a Defensive Player of the Year,” Larsen says with a smile.
That isn’t to say she wasn’t deserving of a prestigious award selected by coaches within the league. The sophomore from Fonda led all of NCAA Division III in steals with 5.4 thefts per contest. She gathered 8.3 rebounds per game (third in the league) while leading the Beavers in scoring at 19.8 points per game.
When it comes to defense, it’s all about pressure from the First Team All-American Rivers Conference guard.
“Olivia is an absolutely fantastic contributor to our team. She’s a tenacious competitor and always makes something happen when she’s on the field. In the dugout, she’s one of the best teammates. I can’t wait to have her for more time to get her up to speed in her softball skill sets.”
Mandie Nocita, BVU Head Softball Coach
“I work on pressuring the other team’s point guard,” she says. “It’s important to find out early in the game if an opposing guard is comfortable facing that kind of pressure. It’s been instilled in me to play aggressively and an up-tempo style of basketball.”
“She’s a great combination of talent and effort, extremely competitive and intuitive,” says David Wells, now in his second year as BVU Women’s Basketball Coach. “What’s even better? Upon learning she won this honor, she immediately said, ‘This is a team award. I couldn’t do this without my teammates.’”
Larsen is a product of the highly successful Newell-Fonda High School program, which, weeks ago, celebrated its third consecutive Class 1A state title. Larsen played a key role in the first championship of this streak, earning Class 1A All-Tournament Team Captain accolades. She had two younger sisters who brought home the championship trophy this time around.
“I’m the second of four girls in our family (older sister Claudia Larsen played for BVU, as did their father, Kevin Larsen) and we had keys to the gym in Fonda, so we were always playing,” Larsen says. “We also have a hoop and a concrete court at home. We played on school teams and in AAU weekend tournaments. It was always a lot of fun.”
As was softball for Larsen, an outfielder, pinch-runner, and designated player for the Beavers of Coach Mandie Nocita. Shortly after earning the prestigious basketball award, Larsen beat out an infield hit and scored a key run late in a BVU victory.
“I really missed softball my freshman year,” says Larsen, who transferred from Morningside College last fall. “I’m glad to be able to be out there contributing now.”
“Olivia is an absolutely fantastic contributor to our team,” Nocita says. “She’s a tenacious competitor and always makes something happen when she’s on the field. In the dugout, she’s one of the best teammates. I can’t wait to have her for more time to get her up to speed in her softball skill sets.”
At Newell-Fonda, Larsen played basketball, volleyball, softball, golf, and ran on the track and field team. She and her Mustang teammates earned state tournament berths in three sports.
As a Beaver, Larsen works to add to a winning culture at BVU, one brought about by work in the gym, on the diamond, and in the classroom. The biomedical sciences major lauds BVU’s commitment to free tutoring through the expanded Center for Academic Excellence.
“Classes are challenging, and I have one to two hours of homework each night, but that’s OK,” says Larsen, a Dean’s List honoree. “Physics was very tough. Senior Autumn Wolf served as a tutor for me, and she was great.”
Larsen, who works as a Certified Nursing Assistant at Buena Vista Regional Medical Center (where her mother, Alicia Staiert, is a Medical/Surgical Registered Nurse) and at the Good Samaritan Center in Newell, plans to use her real-world experiences to supplement what she gains academically at BVU in one day entering a Physician’s Assistant post-graduate program.
Before that time, she’s got plenty of studying and stealing (of basketballs and bases) to do at BVU.
“Being on the court this winter was great,” she concludes. “It was a great atmosphere because every player wanted to get better. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a team where everyone was so happy to be there every day.”