The Division II Conference Commissioners Association has named Anna Atkinson of Wingate and Jake Visser of Ferris State as the 2008-09 female and male Division II National Scholar-Athletes of the Year.

Atkinson, who also won the award for 2007-08, recorded a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average as a biology major and led the basketball team in scoring last year with 16.3 points per game. Visser completed his football career at Ferris State with a 3.89 GPA as a history education major and was a first-team athletics and academic all-American.

The scholar-athlete awards are sponsored by Disney Sports Attractions. CCA President and Commissioner of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Jim Naumovich said the award winners reflect the mission of Division II.

“NCAA Division II emphasizes providing student-athletes growth opportunities through academic achievement, athletics competition and engagement with the community,” he said. “All of these learning experiences have provided the scholar-athlete award winners with a path to graduation and successful lives ahead.”

Atkinson is only the second student-athlete since the award program’s inception in 1999-2000 to repeat as a winner. North Alabama baseball player Douglas Hargett won the honor in 2000-01 and 2001-02.

Atkinson earned the South Atlantic Conference Female Athlete of the Year Award and the league’s Presidents’ Award, presented to the conference’s top female scholar-athlete. Atkinson also repeated as the SAC player of the year after leading the Bulldogs to an 18-10 mark on the season. She was first in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.51) and fourth in assists (6.64 per game).  

She was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America women’s basketball first team for the second year in a row and received an NCAA postgraduate scholarship as well. She graduated in May and plans to attend dental school.

Visser was at the top of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in nearly every defensive category, including tackles for loss (1.45 per game), sacks (0.68 per game) and total tackles (9.5 per game). A consensus all-American by every source covering Division II, Visser was also named to the Associated Press Little All-America first team (non-Division I). 

Visser was awarded the McAvoy Award by the GLIAC for his character and leadership on and off the playing field. He signed as a free agent with the NFL’s Houston Texans.

In addition to the national winners, the Division II CCA also announced the eight women’s and eight men’s regional scholar-athletes of the year.

The women’s winners were:

• Atkinson
• Jen Blasko (volleyball, Slippery Rock)
• Emily Brister (basketball, West Texas A&M)
• Caitlin Hall (soccer, Merrimack)
• Ashley Puga (cross country/track and field, Northwest Nazarene)
• Shyla Rider (softball, Barry)
• Mary Slinger (volleyball, Concordia-St. Paul)
• Kathy Tafler (soccer, Grand Valley State)

Puga and Tafler also were among the nine finalists for the 2009 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

The eight men’s regional winners for 2008-09 were:

• Visser
• Jon Alia (baseball, Cal State Dominguez Hills)
• Aaron Braun (cross country/track and field, Adams State)
• Caleb Farabi (football, Pittsburg State)
• Stephen Hill (cross country, Christian Brothers)
• Jarrell NeSmith (football, Tusculum)
• Benjamin Watkins (baseball, Pittsburgh-Johnstown)
• Mike Yocum (basketball, Philadelphia U.)