Mount Mercy Announces Hall of Fame Class of 2025
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Mount Mercy athletics department has announced the latest additions to the Mustang athletics hall of fame. This year's inductees include athletes from women's cross country and track, women's bowling, men's basketball, and softball.
Vanessa Cortes Hartman was a women's cross country and track athlete who competed at Mount Mercy from 2016-20. Hartman's accomplishments on the cross country course are endless. In 2019 alone, she was named the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Female Athlete of the Year as well as winning the Heart of America individual championship. She also was an all-conference honoree as well as being named the Heart of America Runner of the Week four times. At the national meet in 2019, she finished 71st out of 340 runners, where the Mustangs finished with the highest team finish in school history.
On the track, she was a seven-time NAIA national qualifier, while being an NAIA all-American in the marathon in 2019. She was a five-time Heart of America champion in the 3,000m and the 5,000m, while holding the school record in both the indoor and outdoor 5,000m. Aside from the 5,000m school records, she holds the record in the outdoor 10,000m and marathon.
In the classroom, she was named a Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athlete as well as being a Heart of America Scholar-Athlete.
Ayra Aminuddin is the most decorated bowler in Mount Mercy history. She only competed for the Mustangs for three seasons after transferring in. Aminuddin was named the NCBCA Rookie of the year, was the runner-up for Player of the Year, was a first team all-American, and was the IBMA Rookie of the Year. In year two, Aminuddin once again earned all-American status while qualifying for the Intercollegiate Singles Championship in the USBC while helping lead the Mustangs to qualify for the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships.
In her senior season, Ayra earned her third all-American first team honors while helping the Mustangs dominate the ITC sectional qualifying field, outpacing all 64 women's teams and 80 men's teams. Aside from her accomplishments, Ayra never finished outside of the top-25 in any event individually. In 28 events bowled, she finished inside the top-10 in 22 of those events. She would go on to finish inside the top-five in 16 events, earning all-tournament team honors. Out of 10 tier one events, she earned all-tournament team in six of those events.
Outside of the lanes, she currently works as the graduate assistant for the Mustang bowling programs where she has been instrumental in helping recruit two Malaysian women's bowlers. Aminuddin as well as the two additional players are the first Malaysian women's bowlers to bowl collegiately in the United States.
Antwain Strong helped lead the Mustang men's basketball program over the course of his tenure on the hill. At the conclusion of his playing career in the men's basketball program, Strong ranked third in school history in career assists, fourth in free throws made, sixth in steals, 12th in field goal percentage, 13th in made three pointers, and 14th in scoring. Strong was named to the all-conference team during his junior and senior season. He also helped lead the Mustangs to the national tournament in 2016 and 2017.
Off the court, Strong went from playing for the Mustangs to becoming a graduate assistant, and eventually becoming the full time assistant coach, while still dedicating time and effort to the men's basketball program.
The final inductee in the Mustang Hall of Fame class of 2025 is Kaylee Putzier Fries, having played in the softball program from 2013-16. Putzier is one of the most decorated softball player in the program's history, as her name runs throughout the softball record book. She currently ranks third in school history in slugging percentage at .611 while sitting just inside the top 10 in career hits at 167. One of the most consistent players in program history, Putzier played in 180 games over her Mustang career, in which she started 178 of those games.
Putzier would score 122 runs in her career, sitting just outside of the top three. Her 37 career home runs sit just one shy of tying the school record and her 39 doubles rank inside the top five. The four year starter for the Mustangs was named the Player of the Year in the Independent Conference in 2016. Putzier recently earned her Masters degree from MMU in 2024.