This July, we're going to spend each week looking back on the first 20 years of this millennium, and the best athletes to wear the Charger Blue and White during those two decades, in a series we call Top 20 in the Last 20. Today, we reach the end of our men's list with five very deserving athletes from the first decade of the new millennium.
The list includes multiple All-Americans, Hillsdale's first NCAA Division II track and field national champion, a key player in the Hillsdale Men's Basketball team's only NCAA Division II tournament win, and a true rarity in the modern era of collegiate athletics -- a four sport athlete. To find out more about this stellar group of athletes, click on the links below:
Tim Mustapha | Matt Mlynarchek | Mark Nicolet | Jason Stomps | Jared Krout
Tim Mustapha – Football/Baseball/Basketball/TF ('03)
For five years at the turn of the century, Mustapha was Hillsdale College's own answer to Bo Jackson, participating in no less than four different sports during his time on campus.
It's almost faster to list the sports Hillsdale offered during that time that Mustapha didn't have an impact in. And while some of his seasons fall outside of our purview of the last 20 years, all of his best campaigns came within the threshold.
On the football field, Mustapha was one of the best defensive backs Hillsdale has ever seen. In 2000, during his junior year, he intercepted a school-record 11 passes, leading the entire nation of Division II players that season and earning All-American and GLIAC Defensive Back of the Year honors. He also had Hillsdale's only four-interception game in school history on Oct. 14 of that year against Wayne St.
All told, Mustapha finished his career with a school-record 21 interceptions, as well as 46 pass breakups and three punt return touchdowns, and becoming one of just four players in Charger history to earn three first-team All-GLIAC honors.
As good as he was on the football field, he was just as talented in the spring on the baseball diamond. During his career, Mustapha earned three All-GLIAC honors in baseball, making the second team twice.
He also left an outsized impact on the Charger baseball record book, finishing his career in the top 10 in six categories. He still holds Hillsdale career records in runs scored (181) and walks (102), and also held the record in career hits (209) when he graduated. Although his hits mark has been surpassed, he's still tied for second all-time on the list and he's also third in career stolen bases (87).
Mustapha also played men's basketball during the 2000-01 season at Hillsdale, serving as a reserve on a 23-8 squad that reached the NCAA Division II tournament and beat Gannon for the program's only NCAA tournament win to date, and also competed in track and field for the Chargers during his time on campus.
For his standout achievements in two different sports and a level of versatility unmatched at Hillsdale in the modern era of college athletics, Mustapha was part of the Hillsdale College Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
Matt Mlynarchek -- Men's Basketball ('03)
The big man in the middle for the Charger men's basketball team at the start of the new millennium, Mlynarchek left a major mark on Hillsdale College in his four seasons with the program, and helped the Chargers to their best stretch in 15 years.
A 6-10 center who arrived at Hillsdale College in the fall of 1999 after a solid career at Grand Haven High School on Michigan's west coast, Mlynarchek made an immediate impact on the Chargers as a freshman, starting 21 games and averaging 9.2 points and 6.8 rebounds.
Over the next three seasons, Mlynarchek would become a mainstay in the Charger lineup, starting 87 of his team's 88 games, and he would become one of the best centers in the Midwest Region, earning three All-GLIAC honors, including two first team honors in his final two seasons.
He also helped lead the Chargers to four consecutive winning seasons, including back-to-back 20-plus win seasons in 2000-01 and 2001-02, the first time the Chargers had accomplished that feat since the 1985-86 campaign.
During those years, the Chargers also made back-to-back NCAA Division II tournament appearances for the first time in school history, and claimed Hillsdale's only win in the NCAA tournament in the history of the program, a 60-58 victory over Gannon in the 2001 Midwest Regional quarterfinal. In the regional semifinal, Hillsdale took eventual DII National Champion Kentucky Wesleyan to the wire in a 73-71 loss.
A gifted post scorer and rim protector, as well as an underrated passer, Mlynarchek is well-represented in the Hillsdale College record book. His 1,527 career points are eighth all-time at Hillsdale, and he's the highest player from the last two decades on that list. He's also fourth in career rebounds (984) and third in blocks (152), as well as in the top 10 in both career field goals made and free throws made.
Two of Mlynarchek's season rebounding totals made the top 10 all-time for the Chargers in single-season rebounding, as he grabbed 270 rebounds as both a junior and a senior.
After his graduation in 2003, it would be another eight seasons before the Chargers had another 20-win team, and another nine seasons until Hillsdale's next NCAA Tournament appearance.
One of just five Hillsdale College football players to win a conference Player of the Year award, Nicolet helped set a new standard of quarterbacking for the Chargers that subsequent signal-callers would build off of.
A touted recruit out of Zionsville High in Indiana in the fall of 2004, Nicolet was a three-time first-team All-Conference quarterback for the Eagles who led his team to three IHSAA sectional championship games and two titles in high school.
During his true freshman year, Nicolet was pressed into action earlier than anticipated due to injuries, burning what was supposed to be a redshirt season, and he didn't fully take control of the starting job for the Chargers until midway through his sophomore year.
But as he settled into the position, Nicolet became one of the most electric passers the program had ever seen. His senior year in 2007 is still one of the best in program history, setting then-program records for yardage (3,335), completions (240) and touchdowns (31). While the yardage and completion records have been broken in the last 13 years, the touchdown record still stands.
Following that season, Nicolet became the first Hillsdale quarterback to earn All-American honors since Doug Maison in 1957. He also won GLIAC Player of the Year honors, just the second Hillsdale player at the time to receive that award.
Perhaps more importantly, Nicolet also guided Hillsdale to an 8-3 record in 2007, the Chargers' first winning season on the field in eight years. That success set the tone for teams to follow, starting a string of six straight winning seasons that included two GLIAC titles and two NCAA Division II playoff appearances.
For his career, the early burnt redshirt kept Nicolet from having the fifth year he was originally planned to have. But despite missing out on that chance to add to his numbers, Nicolet still ranks fourth all-time at Hillsdale in passing yards (6,778), fifth in completions (550) and sixth in touchdown passes (49).
Jason Stomps – Track and Field ('10)
One of the best, if not the best, throwers in Hillsdale College history, Stomps overcame several hurdles to become an All-American athlete and the first Division II men's national champion in program history.
A graduate of Lutheran North High School in Macomb, Michigan, Stomps didn't compete in track and field in high school and wasn't even on the radar of Hillsdale College's coaches when he arrived on campus in the fall of 2005.
He got into track through his roommate, Kurt Weil, who was a thrower on the Charger men's team. Weil noticed that Stomps' build and natural strength could make him a collegiate-level competitor with some training.
Stomps took to throwing quickly, making rapid improvements in his freshman and sophomore years. Teaming with Aaron Falk, who also joined the team despite not competing in track and field in high school, the pair developed into one of the best throwing tandems in the nation, competing head to head in both the GLIAC and at the national level with a powerhouse throwing crew from Ashland.
Along with a later start to his career than most of his competition, Stomps also had to overcome a life-threatening bout with pneumonia in the fall of 2008 that laid him up in a hospital bed for 17 days, much of that time hooked to respirators.
Stomps lost 40 pounds and a lot of his strength from that ordeal, setting him back for a brief spell. But with rigorous training, Stomps came back better than before, earning All-American honors in the hammer throw just six months later.
His crowning achievement came at the 2010 NCAA Division II Indoor National Meet. The top seed in the nation entering the 35-pound weight throw competition, Stomps broke his own school record with a throw of 70' 8 ½". That throw made Stomps the first Hillsdale College athlete of any gender to win an individual national title since the Chargers moved to NCAA Division II competition in 1997-98. Stomps has since been joined by Maurice Jones as a national champion on the men's side, but it's still a very exclusive list.
That national title was one of four All-American honors that Stomps earned during his career, including a runner-up finish in the nation at the 2010 Division II Outdoor Championships in the hammer throw. Along with the indoor weight throw record, Stomps also still holds Hillsdale's outdoor hammer throw record (217' 1").
Jared Krout – Track and Field ('10)
Hillsdale College has had a lot of great men's track and field athletes over the years, but Krout is in an elite category even among that storied group.
During a standout career with the Chargers, Krout earned six NCAA Division II All-American honors, among the best marks for a Hillsdale track athlete, earning at least one All-American honor in each of his four seasons on campus and earning All-American honors in three different events.
Krout came to Hillsdale in the fall of 2006 from Arlington High School in Arlington, Ohio, where he finished his career as the most decorated track and field athlete in the school's history, with eight podium finishes at the OHSAA state championships and three state runner-up honors.
In his first season with the Chargers, Krout turned in one of the best freshman performances the Hillsdale track and field program has ever seen, earning GLIAC Freshman of the Year honors at both the indoor and outdoor conference championship meets, as well as GLIAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. At the 2007 indoor national meet, Krout earned All-American honors in both the long jump and the 400m dash.
Over the next three years, Krout would add to his legacy, winning another GLIAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year as a sophomore in 2008, and an Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year as a senior in 2010. All told, he won 10 GLIAC championships during his time at Hillsdale, and four more All-American honors in the 200m dash, the 400m dash and the long jump, with a best finish of third in the nation in the long jump at the 2010 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships. Krout also was named the Great Lakes Region Track Athlete of the Year twice.
Despite being a decade removed from his final season, Krout still has a major place in the Hillsdale College record book, holding school records in the indoor 200m dash (21.56), the outdoor 400m dash (46.69) and the outdoor long jump (25' 2 ¾").