Miscellaneous: Alice Duesing of Lake Superior State University and Matt Spector of Quincy University, the top male and female scholar-athletes from the Great Lakes Region, have been named the Division II Scholar-Athletes of the Year by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association.

The Division II Scholar-Athletes of the Year awards are sponsored by Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

They were the winners from among eight regions based upon the Division II basketball alignment. Duesing represented the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Spector the Great Lakes Valley Conference. This is the first sweep of the awards by one of the eight regions during the four years of the program.

"We are all very proud of the quality student-athletes that Division II institutions produce annually," said Barry Blizzard, West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference commissioner and president of the Division II Commissioners Association. "Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex has helped Division II in many ways, and we are grateful to Disney Sports Attractions for helping us recognize this outstanding talent."

"Involvement in Division II collegiate athletics is something we have emphasized since Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex opened in 1997," said Fred Schoeler, sports account manager for Disney Sports Attractions.

Duesing maintained a nearly perfect grade-point average at Lake Superior State while majoring in mechanical engineering. The Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, native averaged 20.2 points per game and maintained a 59.8 percent field-goal percentage while helping her team to a 23-6 mark. A first team all-American, her scoring average ranked 12th in Division II. Duesing also was named to the first team of both the Verizon CoSIDA Academic All-America team and the Daktronics Division II All-America team. Duesing, an NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner, will attend graduate school at the University of Notre Dame this fall.

Spector, also an NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner, earned a triple major in chemistry, biology and math. A sweeper on the Hawks' soccer team, Spector was a three-year captain and started every game in his collegiate career (77 games). He also was a two-time Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American, earning first-team honors this past season. Spector participated in the QU Honors Program and served as the president of school's chapter of the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society. He plans to attend medical school at Loyola University (Illinois).

The other men's regional winners included Kris Chiles (University of California, San Diego); Shawn Colten (Clarion University of Pennsylvania); Mark Eori (Southwest Baptist University); Ashley Farr (University of South Carolina at Aiken); Sean Kenney (Assumption College); Frank Kuchera (University of Nebraska at Kearney); Kevin Warrick (University of West Florida). Other women's regional winners were Karen Darveaux (Winona State University); Jesse Anne Fernandes (West Texas A&M University); Missy Gregg (Christian Brothers University); Laura Hall (Indiana University of Pennsylvania); Marci Mitchell (Carson-Newman College); Julianne Lovejoy (C.W. Post Campus/Long Island University); Nichole Sauvegeau (Seattle University). Hall was selected as a regional winner for the second consecutive year.

* * *

The late Bruce Harger, athletics director at Drury University until his death in May (see related story, page 1), was inducted in August as the first member of the Heartland Conference Hall of Fame. The conference's Presidents Council took the action through a special proclamation. Harger, who also served on the Division II Management Council, led the program from the NAIA to the NCAA and oversaw the addition of seven varsity sports.

Sports sponsorship: Florida Southern College will sponsor varsity programs in men's and women's swimming beginning in 2003-04. The college has sponsored club teams since 1999 under the direction of Lee Stauffer, who will remain as the Moccasins' head coach. Although normally a member of the Sunshine State Conference, Florida Southern will compete as an independent in swimming (Rollins College and the University of Tampa are the only other Sunshine State programs sponsoring swimming). The addition of men's and women's swimming brings Florida Southern's total number of varsity sports to 15, five of which have been added or reinstated in the last nine years ... Caldwell College has added women's cross country as a varsity sport, effective immediately.

-- Compiled by David Pickle