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Gagne, Wild named DII CCA Scholar-Athletes of the Year

Shannon Gagne of New Haven and Ian Wild of Mercyhurst have been named the top female and male Division II Scholar-Athletes of the Year by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association.

Gagne and Wild were named from a field of eight men’s regional winners and eight women’s regional winners that was announced last month.

Gagne is the first Northeast-10 Conference winner in the 12-year history of the award while Wild is the PSAC’s first winner since Jamie Wolf in 2006.

“We are all very proud of the quality student-athletes that Division II institutions produce annually,” said Butch Raymond, commissioner of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and president of the DII CCA. “The balance of academics and athletics is the hallmark of Division II and all of our award winners exemplify the best of both worlds.”

Gagne, a track and field student-athlete, was the three-time East Region Athlete of the Year (2009, 2010, 2011) as well as the Northeast-10 Scholar-Athlete Excellence Award recipient in 2011. She is a 16-time Northeast-10 Conference Champion as well as a four-time Northeast-10 Conference championship MVP.  She holds conferences records for the 55-meter dash, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash and long jump. She was on the Northeast-10 Conference Commissioners’ Honor Roll every semester that she was eligible and was a member of the Northeast-10 Conference all-Academic team 2009-10 and 2010-11. The criminal justice major was on the dean’s list every semester and graduated summa cum laude with a 3.9 grade-point average.

Wild was an integral part of both the PSAC champion football team and the national champion men’s lacrosse team. In football, Wild started all 13 games on defense, finishing third on the team in tackles (79). He forced a team-high three fumbles and had the sixth-best tackles-for-loss mark with five (-21 yards). In lacrosse, Wild helped Mercyhurst win its first national championship. He was fifth on the team in scoring (20 points) and claimed the outstanding player award in the championship game.

A business major with a 3.9 GPA, Wild was the NCAA men’s lacrosse recipient of the Elite 88 Award. He also was a 2010 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America first- team member, among other honors.

Women’s regional winners along with Gagne were:

Neely Spence – Shippensburg, cross country/track and field, human communications

Kate Griewisch – Lenoir-Rhyne, cross country/track and field, biology (3.81)

Barbi Pocza – Barry, tennis, finance (3.71)

Lindsay Lettow –Central Missouri, track and field, psychology (3.73)

Samantha Murphy – Grand Canyon, basketball, pre-physical therapy (3.97)

Rebecca Anderson, Minnesota Duluth, soccer, biochemistry/molecular biology (3.93)

Monica Kinney – Grand Valley State, track and field, nursing (3.78)

Joining Wild as men’s regional winners were:

Vladimir Milosavljevic – Dowling, soccer, accounting and finance (4.0)

Carter Capps – Mount Olive, baseball, environmental science (3.46)

Daniel Stapff – Barry, golf, finance (3.92)

Kirk Jewasko – Incarnate Word, baseball, business administration (3.83)

Kyle Ciliento – Grand Canyon, soccer, business Administration (3.98)

Matt Braithwaite – Augustana (South Dakota) – cross country/track and field, biology (4.0)

Matthew Laschuk – Wayne State (Michigan), swimming, chemistry/pre-med (3.99)