PSAC Names Fall Top 10 Award Winners
PSAC Names Fall Top 10 Award Winners
(February 1, 2007)
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference has named a group of outstanding student-athletes as the league’s Fall Top Ten Awards winners.
The Top Ten Awards, selected by the PSAC’s sports information directors, recognize student-athletes who distinguish themselves in the classroom, as well as in the arena of competition. The conference designates Top Ten Award winners after each of the sports seasons: fall, winter and spring.
To be a candidate for the Top Ten Awards, a student-athlete must have achieved a minimum of a 3.25 cumulative grade point average and must be a starter or key reserve with legitimate athletic credentials. Only student-athletes from the fall sports season are eligible for the Fall Top Ten Awards. Those sports are: men’s and women’s soccer, football, field hockey, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s cross country.
At the end of the academic year, the league announces the Scholar-Athlete Awards, which recognize student-athletes on all PSAC squads with 3.25 cumulative GPAs or better. Top Ten Award winners are eligible for the league's Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, given to one male and one female candidate at the end of the academic year. Beginning this year, the award will be known as the Pete Nevins Scholar-Athletes of the Year, named in honor of the former East Stroudsburg University sports information director.
Following are biographical sketches of the PSAC’s 2006 Fall Top Ten recipients:
Zac Barton
Senior, Bloomsburg
Football (Berryville, Va./Loudan Valley)... Barton holds a 3.73 GPA in history. A tri-captain of the 2006 Bloomsburg squad that won the NCAA Northeast Region Championship and advanced to the national semifinals, he posted 37 tackles (17 solo), 10 tackles for loss (-36 yds) and registered six sacks (-32 yds). Barton also broke up five passes and recovered one fumble. He earned second-team All-PSAC East and Daktronics second-team All-Northeast Region honors in addition to an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II first-team selection.
Nicole Blaesser
Senior, IUP
Cross Country (Oxford/Oxford)... Blaesser maintains a 3.80 GPA in health and physical education. A four-time all-region performer, Blaesser has been a member of the IUP Dean's List all seven semesters, including three semesters with a 4.0 GPA. Blaesser finished second at the PSAC Championships and then won the NCAA East Region title while setting a new course record. The senior earned All-America honors by placing seventh at nationals with a time of 20:33.7, the fifth-best finish by an IUP woman at the national meet. For her efforts, she earned East Region Runner of the Year by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Sarah Brandon
Senior, Kutztown
Volleyball (Gibsonia/Pine-Richland)... Brandon holds a 3.70 GPA in psychology. The three-time PSAC East Athlete of the Year in her sport led the league in kills per game (4.33) while ranking fifth in blocks (1.29) and sixth in hitting percentage (.337). She paced Kutztown with 463 kills and finished second on the team with 138 blocks to go along with 120 digs. Her efforts led the Golden Bears to the PSAC East title and helped guide the squad to its first ever NCAA regional appearance. Brandon finished her career as Kutztown's all-time leader in kills with 1,840 and earned Daktronics Division II All-America status in her senior season. A four-time All-PSAC East first-team selection and PSAC scholar-athlete, she also is a three-time AVCA Division II All-Region first-team selection and a two-time Daktronics All-Atlantic Region first-team honoree.
Mike Butterworth
Junior, Slippery Rock
Football (Northern Cambria/Northern Cambria)... Butterworth holds a 3.9 GPA in health and physical education. The offensive tackle earned first-team All-PSAC West honors for the second consecutive season after anchoring a Rock line that helped SRU's offense rank fifth in the PSAC in scoring offense (26.7 ppg) and rushing offense (148.2 ypg). In 2006, Butterworth was the only PSAC football student-athlete to earn ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors. He was the fifth Rock football player to earn Academic All-America honors and the first to receive first-team honors. Butterworth was also named to the second-team All-Northeast Region by D2Football.com, Daktronics and Don Hansen's Football Gazette.
Anthony Cellitti
Junior, IUP
Football (Apollo/Kiski Area)... Cellitti boasts a perfect 4.00 GPA in health and physical education. The wide receiver played an integral part in IUP's share of the PSAC West title, as the Crimson Hawks leading receiver caught a 28-yard touchdown pass to cap a 97-yard drive and give IUP a 21-17 victory over California in the season-finale. Cellitti finished with 27 receptions for 318 yards and two touchdowns. The junior is a two-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete and was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II first-team in 2006. A first-team All-PSAC West honoree in 2005, Cellitti has career totals of 58 receptions for 726 yards and six touchdowns.
Amber Hackenberg
Junior, Bloomsburg
Cross Country (Middleburg/Middleburg)... Hackenberg boasts a perfect 4.00 GPA. The junior business administration major finished 12th at this year's PSAC Championships and captured eighth place in the NCAA East Regionals, earning All-PSAC and all-region honors for her efforts. She also placed third in the Husky Invitational, fifth in the Slippery Rock Invitational and seventh in the Bucknell Bison Open. Hackenberg was named the 2005 MVP of the cross country team after placing 48th out of 180 runners at the NCAA II cross country championships and placing fourth in the PSAC Championships.
Julie Karcher
Senior, West Chester
Soccer (Hatboro/Upper Moreland)... Karcher boasts a 3.819 GPA in mathematics. A four-year All-PSAC East first team selection, Karcher broke West Chester's single-season points record (52) and tied her own single-season goal record (21) while leading the Golden Rams to their first PSAC Championship and a berth in the NCAA II Championship game this past season. Her goal total tied for the league-lead while she ranked second overall in points. Karcher also ranked nationally in points per game (24th - 2.17) and goals per game (25th - 0.88). The senior's 66 career goals ties her for first all-time at West Chester and second best in the PSAC, while her 150 points ranks second at West Chester. In addition to her PSAC honors, Karcher was a first-team All-America selection in 2005 and 2006.
Rachael Lanzel
Junior, Edinboro
Cross Country (St. Marys/St. Marys)... Lanzel maintains a 3.70 GPA as a health and physical education major. A five-time Dean's List honoree, the junior capped a stellar season with a fourth-place finish at nationals to earn her second All-America selection. Lanzel was also named the PSAC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year after winning the league's individual championship and helping an Edinboro squad to its ninth straight team title. In addition, the Fighting Scots placed second at the East Regional for the second consecutive year. Lanzel garnered Rookie of the Year awards for cross country in 2004 and indoor track and field in 2005, and earned All-America status in indoor track and field after placing eighth in the 5,000 meters a year ago.
Chris Robson
Senior, Lock Haven
Cross Country (Lewisberry/Red Land)... Robson maintains a 3.863 in pre-physical therapy. He was an All-PSAC performer with a 16th-place finish in 27:15 at the PSAC Championships helping Lock Haven earn the team title. Robson earned a 27th-place finish at the East Region meet to help guide the Bald Eagles to another team championship and aided LHU's 11th-place finish at
the NCAA Championships. He has been a key member of the a Bald Eagle squad that has won four consecutive PSAC Cross Country Championships and three out of the last four NCAA East Region Championships.
Jimmy Terwilliger
Senior, East Stroudsburg
Football (East Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg South)... Terwilliger carries a 3.4 GPA in health and physical education. The PSAC Eastern Division Player of the Year for the third time in his career, he finished his fourth straight season with 2,500+ yards passing, completing 222 of 346 passes for 2,966 yards and 35 touchdowns. Terwilliger tied the NCAA all divisions career touchdown record with 148 and set new NCAA Division II records in career passing yards (14,350) and total offense (16,064). He also holds NCAA II records for career 200+yards passing games, career 300+ yards passing games, consecutive games with a touchdown pass and career games with a touchdown pass. Additionally, he established PSAC career bests in passing yards, total offense, touchdown passes, passes completed (906), and points (966). The winner of the 2005 Harlon Hill Award for Division II's most outstanding football player, Terwilliger is active in reading programs with local elementary schools.