FROM STAFF REPORTS

The University of Montevallo had 27 student-athletes honored as 2011-2012 recipients of the NCAA Division II Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Awards.

The Academic Achievement Awards is a program that recognizes the academic accomplishments of student-athletes at the NCAA Division II level.

The University of Montevallo had 27 student-athletes honored for their academic achievements. The Peach Belt Conference had 166 student-athletes from seven institutions named to the list. The total number of Peach Belt Conference student-athletes to be recognized grew by more than 50 from the 114 conference had on the list last season.

Overall, a record number of institutions (118) and student-athletes (4,492) are being recognized for the 2011-2012 Academic Achievement Awards across the nation.

“The D2ADA would like to thank and congratulate the institutions that took part in honoring the record-number of 4,492 student-athletes with 2011-12 Academic Achievement Awards,” stated D2ADA President Anita Barker, director of athletics at Chico State University. “Recognizing and honoring deserving Division 2 student-athletes is a strategic goal of the D2ADA. This award gives us the platform to showcase these individuals and their efforts in the classroom, as well as on the playing field.”

In order for a student-athlete to receive an Academic Achievement Award, the athletics director of the Division 2 institution must be a current dues paying member of the D2ADA. Also, the student-athlete must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale, have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college level work and have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year.

The following Falcons student-athletes were given the distinguished honor: Josh Headley, Austin Dubberly and Ryan York (baseball); Taylor Welch and Rachel Willingham (women’s basketball); Ginny Davis, In-Mi Matsunaga and Katherine Schofield (women’s cross country); Aaron Ebert, Gonzalo Gambertoglio, Mariano Lepori and Ruwaldt Viljoen (men’s golf); Tracey Marshall (women’s golf); Stephen Beatty and Vancer Curro (men’s soccer); Taylor Kerr, Asgerdur Palsdottir, Paige Scott and Kaitlin Thomas (women’s soccer); Lauren Blair, Helene Nordgreen and Yulia Shvetsova (women’s tennis); Michelle Carle, Anna Garrison, Jessica Guidry, Kaleigh Harvey and Betsy Stevenson (volleyball).