Adrian Mendoza, left, and Emily Bergstrom, right, are presented the UHV Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards Thursday evening by UHV Athletics Director Ashley Walyuchow.

University of Houston-Victoria senior Emily Bergstrom and freshman Adrian Mendoza were announced as the 2012 UHV Athletes of the Year on Thursday during the annual Jaguars athlete awards banquet at Schroeder Hall.

It was the second straight year Bergstrom, a left-handed softball pitcher from El Campo, received the award.

Bergstrom has been successful on and off the field this season. In helping the Jaguars earn a berth to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics National Championships, she set two UHV regular season records as well as four UHV career records. She was named to the Association of Independent Institutions all-conference first team.

Her 27 starts and 22 wins are season records, breaking those she set last year, and she has an opportunity to extend those records at the NAIA national tournament, which begins Thursday. She also currently holds the career record for pitching appearances (80), games started (60), innings pitched (351.2) and victories (48), and shares the lead for saves (4).

She is the only pitcher in school history to toss a perfect game, which was during the 2011 season. She flirted with another perfect game this season only to see it end in the seventh inning.

This season, Bergstrom has compiled a 22-5 record with a 2.26 ERA and four saves. In 139.2 innings, she has allowed 58 runs on 143 hits, 20 walks and 82 strikeouts.

Off the field, Bergstrom served as the UHV Student Senate president this school year. A biology/psychology major, Bergstrom recently was named to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-District 7 softball team.

Mendoza, a forward from Houston, shattered the UHV men’s soccer record book and was named to the A.I.I. all-conference first team, as well as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America NAIA All-Southwest Region team.

He set single-game records for most points (6), most goals (3) and most shots (7), as well as single-season records for games played (17), goals (15), points (33) and game-winning goals (6). His 15 goals and 33 points are also UHV career marks.

He ranked eighth in the nation in game-winning goals per game (0.350) and ninth in total-game winning goals (6) during the 2011 season. His 15 goals led the A.I.I. Conference in goals scored.

Both Bergstrom and Mendoza received the Player of the Year award in their respective sports. Other Player of the Year awards went to Chad Kruse and Ryan Suescun (baseball), Haiydee Moran (women’s soccer), Morgan DeSive (women’s golf) and Jonathan Allen (men’s golf).

Newcomer of the Year honors went to Vance Edwards (men’s golf), Rebecca Benchot (women’s golf), Hector Gonzales (men’s soccer), Nori Martinez (women’s soccer), Brittany Arredondo (softball) and Creighton Hoke (baseball).

Champions of Character award for display of the five-core values of the Champions of Character program went to Steve Jones (men’s golf), Devon Dueser (women’s golf), Garrett DeLos Santos (men’s soccer), Vanessa Plasencia (women’s soccer), Kori Kocian (softball) and Nathan Falkenstine (baseball).