414 Winter Student-Athletes Receive Honors

HADLEY, Mass. - The New England Small College Athletic Conference announced its 2007-08 Winter All-Academic selections today, with 414 student-athletes that participated in a winter sport earning All-Academic recognition. To be honored, a student-athlete must have reached junior academic standing and be a varsity letter winner with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.35. A transfer student must have completed one year of study at the institution.

Of the 414 student-athletes that received Winter All-Academic accolades, a total of 151, more than one-third, had the honor bestowed upon them a year ago. 30 student-athletes on the 2007-08 Winter All-Academic squad also received NESCAC All-Conference recognition this past season, while 32 individuals earned both All-Academic and All-Sportsmanship honors.

Notable members of the Winter All-Academic team are seniors Will Bruce (Nashville, Tenn.) of Williams and Mark Rapisarda (Brooklyn, N.Y.) of Amherst. Bruce, a member of the Ephs’ Men’s Ice Hockey team, was recently honored with the Wooden Citizenship Cup, given to a collegiate and a professional athlete who has made the greatest difference in the lives of others, and is also a finalist for the 2008 Hockey Humanitarian Award, which is given annually to college hockey’s finest citizen. Rapisarda is the only member among the Winter All-Academic selections that also received All-Conference and All-Sportsmanship honors this season.

Among the Winter All-Academic members are multiple NCAA individual champions from this winter. The Tufts combination of seniors Catherine Beck (Brookline, N.H.), Kaleigh Fitzpatrick (Lynnfield, Mass.) and Katy O’Brien (North Easton, Mass.) claimed the Distance Medley Relay title at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships last weekend. Amherst junior Meaghan Stern (Albuquerque, N.M.) was part of three winning relay teams for the Jeffs at the 2008 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, and classmates Alexandra Lee (Piedmont, Calif.) and Erin Morrison (Old Greenwich, Conn.) also helped in the relay victories as Amherst finished second at the NCAA meet. Tufts senior diver Kendall Swett (Akron, Ohio) was a dual winner at the NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, winning the 1-meter and 3-meter events.

Founded in 1971, the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) consists of 11 liberal arts colleges and has consistently reflected its commitment to the values of athletics and academic achievement. The member colleges of the conference are Amherst College, Bates College, Bowdoin College, Colby College, Connecticut College, Hamilton College, Middlebury College, Trinity College, Tufts University, Wesleyan University, and Williams College. For more information on the NESCAC, visit www.nescac.com. 

Amherst  |  Bates  |  Bowdoin  |  Colby  |  Connecticut College  |  Hamilton 
  Middlebury  |  Trinity  |  Tufts  |  Wesleyan  |  Williams