CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The Western Wrestling Conference has announced its inaugural award winners for the 2006-07 season and all three hail from the University of Northern Iowa. UNI's Brad Penrith was named Coach of the Year, redshirt freshman Kyle Anson was named Freshman of the Year and senior Nick Baima was named Wrestler of the Year. The awards were voted on by the league's head coaches.

UNI's Penrith earned WWC Coach of the Year honors. Penrith is in his seventh season at UNI and led the Panthers to the regular season WWC title with a perfect 4-0 dual record. Penrith also guided the Panthers to their 22nd straight regional title and sent six wrestlers to the 2007 NCAA Wrestling Championships.

The Panthers' Anson (Iowa City, Iowa) was named WWC Freshman of the Year. Anson posted an overall record of 25-12 and was a perfect 6-0 against WWC opponents. Anson earned his fi rst trip to nationals by winning the 133-pound title at the NCAA West Regional. Anson tallied eight wins this year against national qualifiers, including a 5-4 win over Old Dominion's Christian Staylor, an 8-2 win over Virginia's Eric Albright and two wins over Wyoming's Cory VomBaur (6-5, 9-4). He also scored wins over 125-pound qualifi ers Nick Fanthorpe (Iowa State), Tyler Shinn (Oklahoma State), Patrick Castillo (Northern Illinois) and Charlie Falck (Iowa).

UNI's Baima (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) was named WWC Wrestler of the Year. Baima, 36-8 overall and 8-0 vs. WWC opponents, captured the 165-pound title at the West Regional and earned his fourth trip to the NCAA Championships. Baima earned the No. 5 seed at the NCAA Championships in the 165-pound bracket. He secured 11 wins over national qualifiers including: two over Johnny Galloway (Northern Illinois), Shawn Kitchner (Brown), Jason Kiessling (Maryland), Michael Cannon (American), Max Dean (Indiana), Dustin Noack (UC Davis), Michael Patrovich (Hofstra), Nick Pullano (Old Dominion) and Ryan Meyer (South Dakota State). Baima wrapped his UNI career with a mark of 124-42, which ranks No. 6 on the Panthers' all-time win list.

The Western Wrestling Conference is comprised of seven schools including the Air Force Academy, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley State and Wyoming. The conference formed in April 2006.