ST. PETER, Minn. – Men’s swimmer Tanner Sonnek (Jr., North Mankato, Minn.), Mohanad Alhouni (Sr., Tripoli, Libya) of men’s tennis, and women’s hockey goaltender Amanda DiNella (Jr., Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.) have been selected as the Gustavus Adolphus College February Co-Male and Female Student-Athletes-of-the-Month, presented by Thrivent Financial and voted on by the Gustavus Sports Information Department.
Tanner Sonnek
Men’s Swimming and Diving
Hometown: North Mankato, Minn.
High School: Mankato West
Major: Political Science
Parents: Troy and Julie Sonnek
Sonnek paced the Gustie men’s swimming & diving team to a second place finish at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships Feb. 15-17 in Minneapolis, Minn., setting several school and conference records.
While claiming three all-conference individual times and apart of four relay all-conference times, Sonnek cemented his name as one of the best breaststrokers in the history of the MIAC, setting a new conference meet and school record time of 54.79 in the 100-yard breaststroke to defend his title from last year as well as break his own record. His time ranks third in Division III.
During day one of the Championships, Sonnek, the defending MIAC 200-meter individual medley champion took second with a time of 1:52.19, which also broke the previous school record set by himself last season. He followed up that performance the next day, breaking his own MIAC meet record and defended his title, this time in the 200-yard breaststroke with a NCAA selection time of 2:00.61, which ranks fifth in the nation.
Mohanad Alhouni
Men’s Tennis
Hometown: Tripoli, Libya
High School: West Lutheran
Major: Management
Parents: Eenam and Khaled Al-Houni
Alhouni excelled during the month of February, turning in a 5-1 record in both the No. 1 singles and doubles position against tough competition. The No. 1-ranked singles player in Division III, Alhouni’s performance was headlined by a strong showing at the ITA National Indoor Championships, hosted by the Gusties at Swanson Tennis Center Feb. 23-25.
Gustavus claimed the consolation championship with wins over No. 10-ranked Carnegie Mellon University and No. 11-ranked University of Redlands after falling 5-4 to the No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Emory University in the first round.
Alhouni went 3-0 in singles with wins over the No. 2, No. 4, and No. 5 ranked players in Division III, while going 2-1 in doubles with victories over Emory and Carnegie Mellon.
Amanda DiNella
Women’s Hockey
Hometown: Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.
High School: Willowbrook
Major: Exercise Physiology
Parents: Anthony and Pam DiNella
The Gustavus women’s hockey team went undefeated at 7-0 during the month of February en route to claiming share of the MIAC regular season title and the No. 1 seed for the conference playoffs, backstopped by the play of Gustie netminder Amanda DiNella.
DiNella started in each game in February, racking up four shutouts, 96 saves, and only two goals allowed. She started out the month with three shutouts in a row with a sweep over St. Catherine and a game one shutout at Concordia. In nearly 400 minutes played through seven games, DiNella posted a 0.286 goals against average along with a .980 save percentage. Her 17 wins on the season is the third most in Division III, while her six shutouts and 1.27 goals against average each rank ninth.