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NCAA salutes top academic winners from Fall Championships

Two repeat winners, two previous winners and two institutions with multiple winners highlight the Elite 89 awards from the NCAA 2012 fall championships.

Women’s volleyball featured winners in both Division II and III that had previously won the award. Grace Krauser, a senior at Division II Wingate University, and Kia Johnson, a senior at Division III University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), both won the Elite 89 award during the 2010 women’s volleyball championship as well. Of the remaining 20 student-athletes named as Elite 89 award winners, two others were honored for a second time in-a-row at their respective sport championships, including: John DeWitt, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, Division III men’s cross country; and Nancy Stehman, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Division II field hockey.

In addition, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Loren Shealy – Division I field hockey and Caitlin Ball – women’s soccer) and the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) (Keegan Bragg – Division III football and Kia Johnson – women’s volleyball) each featured two student-athletes named as award winners.

The Elite 89, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 89 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 89 championships.

All GPAs are based on a straight grading scale to ensure consistency among institutions. All ties are broken by the number of credits completed.

Eligible student-athletes are sophomores or above who have participated in their sport for at least two years with their school. They must be an active member of the team, traveling and competing at the championship.

The 22 award winners by sport and division (I, II, III or National Collegiate), school and major of study and GPA are:

Sport (Division)	Name	Institution	Major (GPA)
Men’s Cross Country (I)	Ben DeJarnette	University of Oregon	Journalism (4.0)
Men’s Cross Country (II)	Billy Brockmueller	University of Sioux Falls	Applied Mathematics and Computer Science (4.0)
Men’s Cross Country (III)	*John DeWitt	University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh	Secondary Education and Mathematics (4.0)
Women’s Cross Country (I)	Sarah Callister	Weber State University	Nursing (4.0)
Women’s Cross Country (II)	Lauryn Falcone	Rollins College	Biology (4.0)
Women’s Cross Country (III)	Dacie Manion	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Mechanical Engineering (4.0)
Field Hockey (I)	Loren Shealy	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	Business Administration (4.0)
Field Hockey (II)	*Nancy Stehman	West Chester University of Pennsylvania	Middle Grades Education and Special Education (3.971)
Field Hockey (III)	Abby Erler	Montclair State University	Business Administration (4.0)
Football (FCS)	Esley Thorton	North Dakota State University	Exercise Science (3.870)
Football (II)	Justin Roberts	Valdosta State University	Business Management (3.946)
Football (III)	Keegan Bragg	University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)	Mechanical Engineering (3.982)
Men’s Soccer (I)	Keon Parsa	Georgetown University	Biology (3.827)
Men’s Soccer (II)	Martin Wehlert	Lynn University	Business Administration (4.0)
Men’s Soccer (III)	Matt Fleming	Ohio Northern University	International Business and Spanish (3.810)
Women’s Soccer (I)	Caitlin Ball	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	Journalism and Mass Communication (3.913)
Women’s Soccer (II)	Kyra Meli	The College of Saint Rose	Forensic Psychology (3.910)
Women’s Soccer (III)	Erin Roberts	Misericordia University	Speech Language Pathology (4.0)
Women’s Volleyball (I)	Maggie Harding	Pennsylvania State University	Food Sciences (4.0)
Women’s Volleyball (II)	**Grace Krauser	Wingate University	Sociology (4.0)
Women’s Volleyball (III)	**Kia Johnson	University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)	Biology (3.961)
Men’s Water Polo	David Lonnberg	St. Francis College (New York)	Political Science (3.968)

*Repeat award winner

**Won award in 2010

 

For more information on the Elite 89 award winners, log on to www.NCAA.com/elite89.