LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska Wesleyan University softball senior Jenna Kimberling has been named to the 2026 American Rivers Conference Softball First Team All-Conference, the league announced Wednesday. Kimberling is the only second baseman named to the first team and becomes the 13th Prairie Wolf to earn first-team all-conference recognition since the program joined the A-R-C in 2016.
Simpson College's Ashlyn Steen was named Position Player of the Year, Loras College's Kaili Henning earned Pitcher of the Year honors, Wartburg College's Katelyn Klever was selected as Rookie of the Year and Wartburg College's Jamie Mueller was named Coaching Staff of the Year.
Voted by the league's coaches as the top second baseman in the A-R-C, Kimberling caps her senior campaign with the first all-conference honor of her career. The Nebraska native started all 37 games for first-year head coach Courtney Medina and led the Prairie Wolves in virtually every major offensive category, finishing first on the team in batting average (.367), on-base percentage (.454), slugging percentage (.651), hits (40), at-bats (109), RBI (34), total bases (71), doubles (8) and runs scored (30). She was second on the team with 58 assists.
Kimberling ranked fifth in the A-R-C in home runs with five and placed in the top 25 in the conference in hits (19th) and runs scored (13th). She posted 11 multi-hit games and nine games with multiple RBI, hitting safely in 23 of 37 contests.
The senior recorded a career-high four hits and drove in a career-high five runs in a 14-8 loss to Doane University on March 18. During the team's spring trip to Florida, Kimberling hit safely in seven straight games from March 10-14, going through a stretch of doubleheaders to build the streak.
Kimberling closes her career tied for fifth in program history in games played (155), 10th in career at-bats (442) and second in career RBI (114). Her 34 RBI this season tie the third-best single-season total in program history.
Nebraska Wesleyan finished seventh in the A-R-C standings and was the only team to miss the conference tournament with a player selected to the first team. The Prairie Wolves have now placed at least one player on the A-R-C First Team in each of the last eight seasons.
