Hello and welcome to the 2016 CRFF-ies! If you missed the introduction to the ceremonies, take a look here to get caught up to speed. Every category in the series was voted on by the CRFF staff through a points system.

After announcing the winner of the Team of the Year category yesterday, we move to the category of Male Athlete of the Year. There were a ton of fine candidates for this award, but we narrowed it down to three. Here are the candidates:

• Alex Dieringer - Dieringer will go down as one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the program, simply put. Dieringer posted an unblemished 2015-16 season, his second consecutive undefeated season. Along with being awarded the Dan Hodge trophy, Dieringer became the 16th Cowboy wrestler to win four national championships. At the end of his illustrious career, he moved into second place in all-time wins at Oklahoma State. Check out a full video of his fourth national championship:

• Emmanuel Ogbah - Boy, we’re gonna miss watching 38. While his 2014 campaign earned him Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year, his 2015 campaign may just earn him a CRFF-ie. That being said, it’s a sham and a mockery that Andrew Billings surpassed Ogbah for the 2015 award. In his 2015 season, Ogbah recorded 42 solo tackles and 23 assisted for a combined 64 tackles. His 13 sacks placed him second nationally. He also scored the only defensive touchdown of his career on this play:

• Mason Rudolph - QB1 has not gotten his fair shake nationally, but his incredible 2015 season did not go unnoticed by us. Rudolph completed over 64 percent of his passes, and throwing for over 3700 yards and 21 touchdowns (while forfeiting all his red zone opportunities to J.W. Walsh). His numbers aren’t as sparkling (they’re still incredible) compared to others around the country, but as a true sophomore, Rudolph showed great toughness and leadership and it made a huge difference in his biggest performance of the year against TCU. Check out the highlights from that game:

Those are the candidates for Male Athlete of the Year. Without further ado, the CRFF-ie goes to ...

Alex Dieringer!

His illustrious career at Oklahoma State was capped off by a national championship, and his contributions to the wrestling program will immortalize him in Stillwater. His 2015 season was remarkable, but when you look at his career as a whole, his accomplishments for OSU Wrestling are incomparable. For that, Alex Dieringer earned this CRFF-ie unanimously.

Check back with us tomorrow for the category of Female Athlete of the Year.