Photo by Dan L. Vander Beek /Vander Beek Photography

A monster season for men’s basketball senior Josh Van Gorp claims the #4 spot on our countdown of the top 10 sports stories at Central College during the 2023-2024 school year.

Coming off an All-American honor last season, Van Gorp reestablished his dominance early in the year with a 19-point, 22-rebound performance against Buena Vista on November 29th. The senior’s career-high 22 rebounds was the second-most in school history, trailing only former Miami Dolphins defensive end Vern Den Herder’s mark of 29 in 1970. On January 27th, Van Gorp provided just one of his many highlights on the season, taking down not only the American Rivers Conference leaders but a 43-year-old scoring record. The reigning conference player of the year pumped in 48 points as the Dutch rocked No. 23-ranked Coe College 94-75. Van Gorp’s scoring output topped the school mark of 45 established by two-time conference MVP Jeff Verhoef in 1979 and tied by Steve Kraayenbrink in 1981. He also shattered Kraayenbrink’s single-game field goals mark with 20-of-24 shooting effort.

Van Gorp led the league in scoring (23.4 points per game) and rebounding (10.3), while ranking second in field goal percentage (.641), en route to winning the American Rivers Conference MVP award for the second consecutive season. Josh was also a second-team All-American choice by both the National Association of Basketball Coaches and D3hoops.com. Van Gorp is the only Central men’s basketball player to receive All-American honors, and just the second player in program history to repeat as the conference MVP.

Van Gorp will utilize his fifth-year of eligibility this upcoming school year at Central and will attempt to add an NCAA postseason berth to his résumé.