NESCAC Spring All-Academic Selections Announced

483 Spring Student-Athletes Receive Honors

HADLEY, Mass. – The New England Small College Athletic Conference announced its 2010 Spring All-Academic selections today, with 483 student-athletes that participated in a spring 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 483 student-athletes that earned Spring All-Academic honors, 167 individuals, roughly 35 percent, received All-Academic recognition last spring. An impressive 80 members of the All-Academic squad also garnered NESCAC All-Conference accolades this past season, while 45 of the 100 individuals on the Spring All-Sportsmanship team also earned All-Academic honors.

Eleven student-athletes individuals were named to the All-Conference, All-Sportsmanship, and All-Academic NESCAC teams this season. The honorees were Amherst senior Hoiwan Cheung (Hanover, N.H.), and junior Carlissa King (Bayside, N.Y.), Bates junior Dana Lindauer (Needham, Mass.), Bowdoin seniors Brett Davis (Larchmont, N.Y.) and Julia Jacobs (Ridgewood, N.J.) along with junior Russell Halliday (Sudbury, Mass.), Colby senior Amanda Burgess (Auburn, Maine), Middlebury senior Mike Waters (Bedford, Mass.), Trinity senior Ryan Flynn (Southborough, Mass.), Tufts senior Meghan McCooey (Cumberland, R.I.), and Williams senior Nick Lebedoff (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Notable members of the 2010 Spring All-Academic team include Tufts juniors D.J. Hessler (Monkton, Md.) and Julia Browne (Old Brookville, N.Y.) along with Bowdoin senior James Neely (Quincy, Mass.) and Williams senior Grace Baljon (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.). Hessler was chosen as the 2010 NESCAC Men’s Lacrosse Player of the Year and was part of a Jumbo squad that posted a program-record 20 wins (20-1) and won their first-ever NESCAC and NCAA championships in May. Hessler also broke the single-season scoring mark at Tufts which he set last season with 91 points (37-54). He was also chosen as the Most Oustanding Performer of the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship.

Browne came away as the NESCAC Women’s Tennis Player of the Year for the second-straight season and won the 2010 NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championship over Baljon of Williams. During her title run, Browne won 61 games while only dropping 21. She was also chosen by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) as the Arthur Ashe Jr. Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship. Browne and her doubles partner, senior Meghan McCooey, reached the semifinals of the doubles championship. Baljon was honored as the NESCAC Senior Sportswoman of the Year and was recently named the ITA Co-National Senior Player of the Year.

Neely earned the NESCAC Men’s Tennis Clarence Chaffee Sportsmanship Award. The Clarence Chaffee Award is given annually to the individual who best combined and displayed a high standard of tennis coupled with the highest level of sportsmanship. A former ITA Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award winner and member of the NESCAC All-Sportsmanship Team in 2008 and 2009 and the All-Academic squads in 2009 and again in 2010, Neely graduated from Bowdoin this spring at the top of his class having competed at the highest level in tennis.

Twenty individuals among the NESCAC Spring All-Academic selections won an NCAA championship this May with their respective team. Five individuals from the national champion Middlebury men’s tennis team were recognized as All-Academic. Tufts had four members of its NCAA Men’s Lacrosse champion squad among the honorees, as the Jumbos won their first-ever NCAA title in any sport. Williams had 11 individuals combined between their women’s rowing and tennis championship teams. The Ephs claimed their fifth consecutive NCAA rowing crown and sixth overall this past weekend, while their women’s tennis title is the third in a row for the program.

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