Two Wagner College student athletes, Ellen Huffman and Meredith Ketchmark, took top academic honors from the Northeast Conference this year, while other individuals posted top grades among athletes in their sports and several Seahawk teams posted the highest collective GPAs for their sports.
Golfer Ellen Huffman, who graduated last month, was named the 2013-14 NEC Female Scholar Athlete of the Year after posting a perfect cumulative 4.0 GPA. For each of the past eight years, the NEC and its faculty athletic representatives have bestowed this honor on the male and female student athletes who have exhausted their athletic eligibility, graduated, and compiled the highest grade point averages in the conference at the conclusion of the academic calendar. Huffman also earned the Wagner College ECAC Merit Award, which is given to the graduating senior student athletes, male and female, with the highest cumulative GPAs. Huffman was one of two student speakers at Wagner’s recent commencement exercise.
Meredith Ketchmark, who also graduated last month, a member of the NEC Champion Swimming & Diving Team, was given the 2014 NEC Student Athlete Advisory Committee Student Athlete of the Year award. The honor recognizes individual excellence in both the academic and athletic realms as well as leadership and contributions to one’s community. Ketchmark was near-perfect in the classroom, finishing with a cumulative 3.96 GPA while majoring in anthropology. A four-time member of the NEC Commissioner’s Honor Roll (3.75 or better GPA), Ketchmark was also a member of Lambda Alpha, the national anthropology honor society. Her prowess in the classroom also contributed to the Wagner swimming and diving team achieving the fifth highest GPA among all Division I collegiate swimming programs.
Rising senior Matthew Kane (3.73 GPA) was named as the NEC Scholar Athlete of the Year for men’s track & field, while classmate Kelsey Parker (3.92 GPA) was recognized as the softball recipient. Both athletes were also outstanding in their respective sports. Kane scored a team-best 22.5 points at the NEC Outdoor Track & Field Championship meet in May en route to qualifying for the NCAA Regional Meet. Parker was a second team All-NEC performer and the NEC’s Most Improved Player; she led the circuit with a .444 average and 41 RBIs, finishing third with nine homers.
Overall, Wagner’s student athletes finished the 2013-14 season with a 3.245 GPA, placing third among the 10 Northeast Conference colleges and universities, while the swimming & diving (3.537), men’s lacrosse (3.221) and football (2.969) squads all won the Team GPA Award for their respective sports.