MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- Milwaukee School of Engineering soccer student-athlete Adrian Manchado Cano has been named the 2025-2026 G. Steven Larson Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Student-Athlete of the Year for men's sports.

Manchado Cano is the fourth men's honoree from MSOE, following Austin Meier (2010-11), Logan Andryk (2015-16), and Quin Krisik (2018-19).

Manchado Cano, a native of Cubas de la Sagra, Madrid, Spain, earned first-team all-conference and first-team United Soccer Coaches all-region honors as a defender this past season after helping lead the Raiders to a second-consecutive NACC Tournament title and NCAA Championship berth. After starting just 15 of 35 games in his first two seasons at MSOE, he started all 23 games last season, registering 19 points on eight goals and three assists. Manchado also recorded the game-winning goal in a win over Wisconsin Lutheran in early October. He was also a member of MSOE's 2023 squad that share the NACC regular-season title.

Academically, Manchado is a three-time NACC Scholar-Athlete and has been named to the Dean's List with High Honors seven times. He was also named to the 2025 College Sports Communicators Academic All-America First Team and was a Second-Team Scholar All-American from United Soccer Coaches. 

Manchado - who is also pursuing a master's degree in machine learning concurrent to his bachelor's degree - has been been active on campus while at MSOE, participating in panels sharing perspectives on college success, serving as a mentor to the AI Club, and organizing study tables for both the men's soccer team and the larger campus community.

Manchado is also actively committed to developing technology to improve the lives of people around him. One such project involved building an AI system that used camera footage to track soccer players and gather quantitative insights to aid in coaching and development. The significance and scope of that project led to Manchado and his project team being selected as a top-three finalist for MSOE's Rosie Supercomputer Super Challenge.

"My family taught me from a young age that you receive what you give," noted Manchado Cano in his personal statement. "Even without a luxurious life, we helped however we could, donating clothes in our community, organizing solidarity runs to collect food, and selling lottery tickets to raise money for underprivileged countries in Africa. I believe service starts with small acts that compound when many people contribute. That's why I help students and teammates through incremental steps.

"One of my passions is developing technology that improves people's lives. I've also found meaningful ways to serve Milwaukee through partnerships with senior care facilities, the generation that built what we have today. During my internship at Direct Supply, I organized volunteering events throughout the summer where over 30 interns visited these communities. These visits had an incredible impact on both residents and interns, inspiring technology tools that significantly improved residents' lives."

"I'm indebted to the schools I've attended, the city of Milwaukee, the United States, and everyone who has given me a chance," Manchado Cano remarked. "At 18, I received the opportunity of a lifetime - coming to the United States. I'm the first in my family to earn a college degree. To squander this chance would dishonor every sacrifice my family made. Service is how I attempt to give back a bit of all the help I received. My family showed me that wealth is not a prerequisite for generosity. The only requirement is willingness to contribute what you can, when you can."

He also served as secretary for MSOE's chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honors society, and participated in MSOE's Hacksgiving: AI For Good events, developing AI solutions for regional non-profit organizations. Additionally, Manchado was selected as an MSOE University Innovation Fellow to pursue improvement projects, leveraging technical expertise within his discipline. He also had a paper published and twice placed in the top five at the Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium.

Manchado was named MSOE's Male Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year and received the Jimmy Banks Award awarded to the MSOE men's soccer player who makes his teammates better on and off the field. He also received the Thomas W. Davis Student Leadership Award, which recognizes a student who has demonstrated exemplary leadership while attending MSOE, and was the class respondant at MSOE's 2026 Commencement ceremony.

About the NACC Student-Athlete of the Year Award
Each NACC member institution may nominate up to two male student-athletes for the annual award, provided at least one of the institution's nominees is a student-athlete of color or an international student-athlete. The NACC's Senior Woman Administrator Standing Committee (SWASC) uses a combination of the following criteria in the selection of the award -- athletic excellence, academic achievement, service and leadership, and personal statement -- and moves the award winner forward as the NACC's conference-level nominee for the Division III Commissioners Association (D3CA) Student-Athlete of the Year Award.

Effective with the 2022-2023 academic year, the award was renamed in honor and memory of NACC founding commissioner Dr. G. Steven Larson. Larson oversaw the NACC from 2006-2020, assuming the commissioner's role after 20 years as director of athletics and head men's basketball coach at Edgewood College. During his final 11 years at Edgewood, he also served as commissioner of the Lake Michigan Conference (LMC). Larson passed away in December 2021.

Other 2025-26 G. Steven Larson NACC Student-Athlete of the Year nominees - Men's Sports: Brandon Mahler, Concordia University Chicago, baseball; Logan Landers, Concordia University Wisconsin, basketball; Aiden Shumaker, Edgewood University, baseball; Tanner Laesch, Eureka College, football; Garrison Carter, Illinois Institute of Technology, basketball; Jordan Davis-Troller, Lakeland University, soccer/volleyball; Mason Dopirak, Milwaukee School of Engineering, basketball; Ezra Schermacher, St. Norbert College, track & field.

G. Steven Larson NACC Student-Athlete of the Year Award - Men's Sports
Recipients By Year
2025-26: Adrian Manchado Cano, MSOE
2024-25: Miguel Konde Gwo, Edgewood
2023-24: Ryan Broeckel, Wisconsin Lutheran
2022-23: Mikolaj (Nick) Kowalczyk, Dominican
2021-22: Justin Sartori, Aurora
2020-21: Gavin Zimbelman, Aurora & Ted Howell, Illinois Tech
2019-20: Ethan Klosak, Dominican
2018-19: Quin Krisik, MSOE
2017-18: Kevin Coppin, Concordia Chicago
2016-17: Eric Kittel, Concordia Wisconsin
2015-16: Logan Andryk, MSOE
2014-15: Logan Marvin, Dominican & Aaron Roeseler, Wisconsin Lutheran
2013-14: Eric Zeitler, Wisconsin Lutheran
2012-13: Doug Ingold, Aurora
2011-12: Tim Mackey, Aurora
2010-11: Austin Meier, MSOE
2009-10: Steve Salazar, Aurora & Brock Solveson, Concordia Wisconsin
2008-09: Zach Bickel, Concordia Chicago
2007-08*: Jordan Van Ess, Marian
 *inaugural award