(Butler, PA) Butler County Community College’s only two-time All-American in golf and its all-time leader in volleyball assists will be recognized as 2021 inductees into BC3’s Charles W. Dunaway Pioneer Hall of Fame.
Stefan Carlsson and Nicole (Sebastian) Bajuszik will join 14 others in BC3’s 6-year-old hall. Carlsson’s and Bajuszik’s accomplishments will be celebrated at a BC3 ceremony in 2022.
Carlsson was selected as a National Junior College Athletic Association Division III All-American in 2014 and in 2015.
Bajuszik recorded 1,360 assists as a setter who helped lead the Pioneers to a combined 48-12 record over two seasons and a national fifth-place finish in the 2002 NJCAA Division III tournament in Minnesota.
“Such an amazing experience and memory,” Bajuszik said of the national tournament in Rochester, Minn. “Even now, people ask me, ‘What is it that you did in volleyball?’ That is something that I always bring up.”
Carlsson was “consistent,” golf coach says
Carlsson lives in Butler and is a 2013 Knoch High School graduate. He is one of four BC3 student-athletes to have twice been named an NJCAA Division III All-American since 1971.
He qualified for the NJCAA Division III national tournament in Chautauqua, N.Y., in each of his spring seasons with BC3. Golfers who place in the top 18 of the four-round tournament become All-Americans. Carlsson placed 10th in 2014, with rounds of 77, 74, 74 and 75; and 15th in 2015, with rounds of 77, 78, 76 and 78.
“That’s solid,” said Bill Miller, BC3’s golf coach since 2003. “Some guys might have one great round that brings them up. But he was just very consistent.”
Carlsson was also the medalist in leading the Pioneers to the Pennsylvania Invitational Tournament championship in fall 2014 and to the NJCAA Division III Region XX crown in spring 2015. He was named to the NJCAA Division III Region XX all-tournament team in 2014 and in 2015.
“When the competition got better, I think I was able to focus better, because you know that your mistakes are magnified,” Carlsson said. “You have to stay in the moment. You can’t think two steps ahead or what happened on the last hole. You have to stay in the moment.”
Carlsson is employed by Oakmont Country Club in Plum.
Volleyball coach: Bajuszik was “very good setter”
Bajuszik lives in Saxonburg and is a 2000 Seneca Valley High School graduate. As the first full-time setter for the Pioneers under coach Rob Snyder, Bajuszik finished fifth among players in the NJCAA’s Division III with 8.205 assists per set in 2002 and 14th with 7.449 in 2003.
“She was a very good setter and a super-hard worker,” said Snyder, BC3’s coach for 21 seasons and the college’s director of student life and athletics. “It doesn’t matter how many good hitters you have if you can’t get them the ball. The key was being able to get them the ball and Nicole did that very well. The consistency of having the same player setting all the time was kind of a first for us and important for our program’s development.”
Bajuszik was a member of BC3 teams that won two Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference crowns, two NJCAA Division III Region XX titles and two Pennsylvania Collegiate Athletic Association state championships.
Bajuszik was twice named to the WPCC all-conference squad and to the NJCAA Division III allRegion XX team. She was selected to the NJCAA Division III Region XX all-tournament squad and to the PCAA all-state team.
Bajuszik earned an associate degree at BC3, then transferred to La Roche University, where she also played volleyball and ranks third in assists. Bajuszik has been head coach of La Roche’s women’s volleyball team since 2012 and was named the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference coach of the year in 2014.
BC3’s Charles W. Dunaway Pioneer Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to the quality and success of BC3 athletics.
“I feel very humbled,” Bajuszik said. “It’s very exciting. There are a lot of emotions that I feel because I have been out of the game as a player for so long.”
“It’s just super-cool,” Carlsson said. “There have been so many good athletes at BC3.”
Carlsson and Bajuszik will join 2020 inductees Hal Koenemund and Tracy Pease in the college’s 2022 induction ceremony.
Koenemund set BC3 records in men’s basketball with 55 points in a game and with 918 points in a season. Pease won a PCAA title in women’s singles tennis at BC3.
Twenty-three BC3 student-athletes have been selected for 27 All-American awards in crosscountry, golf, men’s basketball, softball, volleyball and women’s basketball since 1970.
Carlsson joins as two-time BC3 All-Americans Bob Wilson in cross-country in 1970 and 1971; Megan Smith, in volleyball in 2002 and 2003; and Mackenzie Craig, in volleyball in 2018 and in women’s basketball in 2019.
BC3 offers intercollegiate athletics in baseball, golf, men’s basketball, softball, volleyball and women’s basketball.