WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth University Athletics announced its Paul G Gaffney II Athletes of the Year Monday, with football's Jaden Shirden named the Male Athlete of the Year and field hockey's Annick van Lange earning Female Athlete of the Year.
 
Shirden led the entire country in rushing at the end of the regular season, including FBS running backs, with 1,722 yards. His 8.4 yards per carry and 156.5 rushing yards per game were both tops in the FCS, earning him Colonial Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Year honors. Shirden averaged an impressive 52.8 yards on 13 touchdown runs, including eight 50+ yard touchdown runs. The two-time CAA Offensive Player of the Week ranked third in the conference with his 13 rushing scores.
 
Earlier in the year he set the Monmouth record for rushing yards in a game when he had 299 yards on just 12 carries against Fordham, including touchdown runs of 95 and 80 yards. Shirden had four 200-yard games on the season and nine 100+ yard performances. At one point in the season the Connecticut native ran for 917 yards over a five-game span. His 8.4 yards per carry marked a new Monmouth single-season record while his 1,722 rushing yards was second most in the school record book.
 
Shirden's long list of awards and accolades from the 2022 season also include appearances on the Walter Camp FCS, STATS Perform, FCS ADA, Athlon Sports FCS, AFCA FCS, Hero Sports All-FCS, Hero Sports Sophomore, and FCS AP All-America Teams. The Connecticut native was also a finalist for the 2022 Walter Payton Award, an honor bestowed upon the nation's top FCS offensive player, where he finished third in voting.
 
van Lange became the fourth different Hawk to be named an NFHCA Third Team All-American after a record-breaking season. The graduate student ranked second in the nation with 24 goals and 52 points, helping lead Monmouth to a regular season title in their first year as members of the CAA.
 
In addition, van Lange set program records for career goals (74), career points (168), and single-season goals. She also led the conference in goals, points, game-winning goals (7), shots (89), and shots on goal (53).

The Belgium native brought home numerous accolades for her historic 2022 campaign, including honors for CAA Offensive Player of the Year, All-CAA First Team, CAA All-Tournament Team, five-time CAA Player of the Week, ECAC Offensive Player of the Year, and NFHCA Division I Mid-Atlantic All-Region First Team.
 
Shirden is the eighth different football player to earn Male Athlete of the Year at Monmouth, joining the likes of Dan Sabella (1998), Joe Sentipal (2003, 2004), Miles Austin (2006), Dave Sinisi (2009), Mike Basile (2018), Reggie White Jr. (2019), and Kenji Bahar (2020). van Lange becomes the sixth member of the field hockey team to be given Female Athlete of the Years honors, joining Kelly Monahan (2002), Melissa Katz (2011), Michelle Pieczynski (2014), Julie Laszlo (2018), and Ireen Franken (2021).