NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Illinois Wesleyan senior softball student-athlete Hayley Earl has been chosen as the 2022 Chris Martin Perseverance Award recipient as announced by the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) on Thursday. 

The award is named after former CCIW Commissioner Chris Martin, who served in this role from 2002 to 2019. The CCIW Council of Presidents established the award in April 2019 to be presented annually to a men's or women's student-athlete who demonstrates an unwavering commitment and perseverance to overcome a physical challenge in order to compete at the highest levels of CCIW athletics.

This award honors Martin’s legacy of perseverance enduring the challenges of a lifelong hearing disability and a highly accomplished tenure leading the CCIW through a period of growth and success.

The CCIW’s Senior Woman Administrators chose Earl as this year's recipient following a review of candidates.

Earl was born with Branchio-oto-renal (BOR) Syndrome, which is a genetic medical condition that affected the development of her right ear. Because of this, she is legally deaf in that ear. Growing up, she had to develop tactics to hear family, teachers, coaches and peers. She has to sit on one half of the classroom, has worn headphones, had teachers use microphones during class, and always turns her left ear to whoever is talking. Because of the rarity of this syndrome, the complications with her health are unknown. 

Despite living with this condition, Earl has thrived as the Titans' starting catcher. She is the team's main communicator, often having to take cues from the dugout and relay the information to her teammates on the field. Earl is a two-time First Team All-CCIW performer (2019, 2021), and this season, is currently batting .381 with 10 doubles, five home runs and 24 RBI as of April 14.

She helped lead the Titans to CCIW regular season and tournament titles in 2019, as well as advancing to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship's final eight-team round that season.  

Chris Martin Perseverance Award Winners
2022 - Hayley Earl - Illinois Wesleyan (Softball)
2021 - Gabrielle Coulthard - Millikin (Women's Volleyball)
2020 - Sinead Molloy - North Park (Women's Basketball)
The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst University (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL).