Another banner year in the classroom for East Central College student athletes has resulted in honors for the Athletic Department, several players and two teams.
The Athletic Department won the Midwest Community College Athletic Conference - Harold Oetting Award. This is the second consecutive year that ECC has won the award which is presented to the college with the highest overall grade point average in the conference. East Central College led the conference with a 2.94 overall GPA to retain possession of the traveling trophy.
Both the women’s softball and volleyball teams were named National Junior College Athletic Association All-Academic teams with 3.27 and 3.25 team grade point averages respectively.
Topping the list of achievements were five Falcons receiving National Academic Student-Athlete awards. Softball player Brooke Brenton received the Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence with a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Superior Academic Achievement honors, which are given to students who achieved a GPA of 3.80 to 3.99 on a 4.0 scale, went to volleyball player Lacey Lackman and Edwin Meza from the men’s soccer team. Exemplary Academic Achievement honors, for students who achieved a GPA of 3.60 to 3.79, were given to Mary Engemann of the women’s volleyball team and Kasilda Miller of the women’s softball team.
The NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete Awards were previously known as NJCAA Academic All-American honors.
“Having five athletes receiving national academic recognition in a single year is the most in the history of East Central College athletics,” noted Dr. Jay Mehrhoff, ECC director of athletics. “A strong tribute goes to the recruiting of quality student athletes by the coaches. The continued success of a junior college athletic department depends on building consistency in individual sport programs with strong leadership on the court or field and especially in the classroom.”
Twenty-two student athletes were named Midwest Community College Athletic Conference Academic All-Conference for 2010-2011 with a grade point average of 3.0 or better:
Lauren Baumstark-Volleyball
Cody Beck-Soccer
Tiffany Borgerding-Volleyball
Brooke Brenton-Softball
Rhiannon Edler-Softball
Mary Engemann-Volleyball
Renan Fernandes-Soccer
Itamar Filho-Soccer
Dillon Huber-Soccer
Ryan Johanning-Soccer
Kasey Kirchhofer-Volleyball & Softball
Lacey Lackman-Volleyball
Edwin Meza-Soccer
Kasilda Miller-Softball
Brian Monge-Soccer
Jamie Pickel-Soccer
Rogers Pineda-Soccer
Meghan Rumley-Softball
Quinton Sallin-Soccer
Kelli Sans Souci-Volleyball
Samantha Walch-Volleyball
Jamie Wheeler-Softball
This is the second year that Renan Fernandes, Ryan Johanning, Kasey Kirchhofer, Kasilda Miller, Meghan Rumley, Kelli Sans Souci and Samantha Walch have been named Academic All-Conference.
A dozen students also earned Academic All-Region honors by achieving a grade point average of 3.25 or better. Those students were: Cody Beck, Tiffany Borgerding, Brook Brenton, Mary Engemann, Kasey Kirchhofer, Lacey Lackman, Edwin Meza, Kasilda Miller, Brian Monge, Jamie Pickel, Kelli Sans Souci and Jamie Wheeler.
