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Four with MIAC ties to be honored at National Girls & Women in Sports Day-Minnesota

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Four individuals with ties to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) will be honored with awards during the 2026 National Girls & Women in Sports Day-Minnesota Celebration on Wednesday, February 4, 2026.
 
Saint Benedict head women’s basketball coach Mike Durbin has been selected to receive the Milestone Award, while former St. Olaf head softball coach Ruthie Neuger and former Bethel multi-sport athlete Kiersten Hansen will receive Breaking Barriers Awards, and former Gustavus student and Assistant Director of Admission at CSB/SJU, Jillian Hiscock, will be honored with the Special Merit Award.
 
The celebration, which will be conducted in conjunction with the 40th-annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day, will honor 11 of Minnesota’s most inspiring and influential individuals, groups, and organizations in girls’ & women’s sports. Award recipients are nominated by individuals, schools, community organizations, recreation centers, and amateur and professional sports organizations.
 
The National Girls & Women in Sports Day-Minnesota exhibits will open at 11:00 a.m. at the Minnesota History Center on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, with the ceremony slated to begin at noon.
 
Milestone Award – Mike Durbin
When Mike Durbin told his family he was leaving Ohio to take a job coaching women’s basketball at the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., his mom told him to stay for five years, get some experience, and then move back to Ohio. That was 40 years ago. Durbin, fresh out of his master’s program with one year of college coaching under his belt, made his way to Saint Ben’s and never left. Durbin arrived at CSB ahead of the 1986-87 season, and the team went from a sub-.500 finish the year before a fourth-place Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference finish. The Bennies – then-known as the Blazers – won their first conference title in 1989 and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance that same year. From 1989 through 1999, CSB earned a spot in the national tournament every year, including four straight appearances in the Sweet 16. The Blazers were national semifinalists in 1993 and again in 1999 and took second at the 1999 national tournament. Durbin was named NCAA Division III Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1998, West Region Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1995, and MIAC Coach of the Year six times. Durbin started his milestone 40th season at Saint Ben’s in Fall 2025 and, heading into the season, was third all-time in NCAA Division III wins. He is 15th among all active coaches regardless of divisions and 36th all-time for most wins in a career, regardless of division. While Durbin’s resume on the court speaks for itself, he has also spent the last 40 years supporting his CSB athletes and basketball players around the St. Joseph area, however he can. He spent many seasons coaching the Minnesota Comets AAU program, and he encourages his athletes to participate on campus and in the community outside of basketball. His student-athletes serve on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and participate in music or theater as well as community service events. Each summer, Durbin hosts youth camps for all ages on the CSB campus to help grow the love of the game in girls from Central Minnesota and beyond. Durbin makes his camps affordable so that not only can they learn to be better basketball players, but also get on a college campus to see what life could be like when they get older. He was inducted into the Minnesota High School Girls’ Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2003, and he coached his 1,000th game at CSB in 2024 – the first coach in MIAC history to reach that impressive milestone. He has coached 13 All-Americans, five Academic All-Americans, and hundreds of MIAC honorees.
 
Special Merit Award – Jillian Hiscock
With a degree in vocal music and a career in higher education and nonprofits, opening a sports bar may have been a head-scratching career move for some. But for Jillian Hiscock, it just made sense. Hiscock grew up a sports lover and was a three-sport athlete at Mankato West High School. It was during her time at Gustavus Adolphus College that she discovered that, along with a love of sports, she was passionate about breaking down systems and making sure everyone had a seat at the table. After graduating, Hiscock spent 12 years in college admissions, helping everyone find their place in college as she had at Gustavus. Hiscock spent eight years at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University as the Assistant Director of Admission, where she coordinated the colleges’ multicultural recruitment efforts and helped build the Intercultural Leadership, Education, and Development Fellowship program. In 2015, Hiscock shifted her focus to a larger scale. She spent three years as the National Partnerships Director at College Possible, and then from 2018-2022 she was the Director of College Success at Genesys Works Twin Cities. Hiscock stepped back from higher education in 2022 and took on a consulting role for local event management groups, playing a key role when Minneapolis hosted the NCAA Women’s Final Four in 2022. In 2023, Hiscock realized that if she wanted a place in the Twin Cities to see all women’s sports, all the time, she was going to have to build it. That year, she started plans to build A Bar of Their Own. In March 2024, the Midwest’s first all-women’s sports bar opened, and it’s been busy ever since. Women’s sports are the only events shown on ABOTO’s many TVs, and no matter what’s showing, people will come and watch. The bar has a code of conduct to maintain a safe and welcoming environment. The bar has a wall of fame, and along with professional female athletes, legends like Billie Jean King have stopped to sign it. For her vision and determination to give women’s sports fans a place to call their own, Hiscock received the WISE Changemaker of the Year Award in 2024. She was also named a Women in Business Honoree by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and was named the Small Business Leader of the Year by Twin Cities Pride. ABOTO recently started A Fund of Their Own, an organization dedicated to empowering young girls and women by providing financial assistance to help them stay active in sports. Money raised through A Fund of Their Own will sponsor Metro athletes and teams to participate in camps, buy team equipment, and more.
 
Breaking Barriers Award – Ruth Bjorlie Neuger
Ruth Bjorlie Neuger was part of the first group of girls who had the opportunity to compete on sports teams at St. Paul Johnson High School in the mid-1970s. She took full advantage of every opportunity available to compete - and that drive to compete followed her through college and into her professional career. Bjorlie Neuger competed on the first girls’ volleyball, basketball, and track and field teams at Johnson. The girls had to wear the same uniform for all three sports, but they didn’t let that stop them. Bjorlie Neuger - who also lettered on the boys’ swimming team in 1974 because there was no girls’ team - was the captain of the girls’ track and field team as a senior in 1976. After a busy but successful athletic career in high school, Bjorlie Neuger continued her three-sport dominance at St. Olaf College. She switched out track and field for softball, and lettered four times in volleyball, basketball, and softball - the first female athlete in Ole history to earn 12 varsity athletic letters. During her senior year, Bjorlie Neuger earned all-state volleyball honors and was named co-captain of the softball team. Bjorlie Neuger graduated from St. Olaf in 1980 and chose to stay on at her alma mater as an assistant coach in volleyball, basketball, and softball - the same sports she competed in as a collegiate athlete. She was one of the first female athletic coaches in the Ole athletic department. Bjorlie Neuger stepped away from St. Olaf to raise a family before returning to coaching, this time as the Oles’ softball coach. She started as an assistant in 2000 and took on the head role in 2003. From 2003-15, she won 145 games and was named the 2010 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Oles to their first MIAC playoff appearance in fifteen years. While she was coaching softball, Bjorlie Neuger added another sport to her resume as she stepped in as head coach for the St. Olaf JV women’s soccer team and assistant coach to the varsity team. Bjorlie Neuger was inducted into the St. Olaf Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. She is an active member of the Northfield community, and in 2019, she received the Robert Bonner Distinguished Service Award from the Laura Baker Services Association.
 
Breaking Barriers Award – Kiersten Hansen
Kiersten Hansen wasn’t looking to be a trailblazer when she joined the Eden Prairie boys’ football team in fourth grade – she just loved football. Now, more than 30 years later, she continues to pave the way for girls and women in the Twin Cities who, like her, just love football and want the chance to play. From fourth through ninth grade, Hansen was the only girl in the Eden Prairie Football Association. She played mostly tight end and linebacker on the Green Hornets’ tackle football team, and she was a big part of the game on both sides of the ball. Hansen hung up her cleats after her freshman year at Eden Prairie High School. She tried other sports in high school and went to college at Bethel University, where she played basketball from 2007-09 and was a goalie on the Royals’ soccer team as a senior in 2009. After graduating from Bethel in 2010, Hansen started her professional career as a physical therapist. Fast forward to 2015, when, thanks to the connection of a mutual friend, a tryout notice for the Minnesota Vixen showed up on Hansen’s Facebook feed. She made the team at quarterback – a position she’d never played. She was named the Vixen’s starter ahead of the season opener, and she was the 2016 team MVP as she led the Vixen to a conference title. A year later, she earned Women’s Football Alliance All-America honors. In 2018, Hansen earned another WFL All-America honor before wrapping up her professional career with a 49-0 rout for Team United in the 2019 Women’s Football Alliance All-Star Game in Toronto. In 2019, Eden Prairie head coach Mike Grant asked if she would consider coming back home as a member of the high school football team’s coaching staff. Hansen coached the Eden Prairie boys through summer league and was asked to be the offensive coordinator for the freshman team that fall, a position she held for several seasons. In March 2025, Bethel announced it was launching a women’s flag football program, and Hansen was asked to join the Royals’ inaugural coaching staff. From the peewee fields in Eden Prairie to professional games with the Vixen, Hansen’s football journey has helped pave the way for girls and women in the Twin Cities and beyond who want to play football.
 
| NGWSD Release |