General | December 22, 2018

CLEVELAND – The Mid-American Conference announced today the Distinguished Scholar Athletes from the fall sports during the 2018-19 academic year as voted by faculty athletic representatives at MAC institutions representing the 'best of the best' from each sports Academic All-MAC Teams.

Across Western Michigan's five fall sports, the Broncos produced 16 honorees. The Bronco football team led the way with five selections, followed by women's soccer with four and men's soccer with three. The cross country and volleyball teams each had two honorees.

The Distinguished Scholar Athlete is a fifth-year award given to students who have excelled in athletics and academics. Following each season from the fall sports schedule, any student with a 3.20 GPA and participation in at least 50 percent of the contests was automatically named to the previously announced Academic All-MAC Team from each sport. Also, first-year students and junior college transfers in their first year of residence were not eligible for the award.

From the Academic All-MAC Teams, the faculty athletic representatives selected the 'best of the best' of our Academic All-MAC Teams to be honored with Distinguished Scholar Athlete Award for the 2018-19 season. The number of Distinguished Scholar Athletes from each sport were equivalent to the number of first-team selections or 20% of nominees, whichever was greater.

CROSS COUNTRY (2)
Maria McDaniel, Senior, 3.94 GPA, Interdisciplinary Health Services (Naperville, Ill.)
Juliane Sormain, Junior, 3.83 GPA, Economics (Cachan, France)

FOOTBALL (5)
*Mike Caliendo, Sophomore, 3.83 GPA, Biomedical Sciences (Brookfield, Wis.)
*Luke Juriga, Junior, 3.61 GPA, Manufacturing Engineering Technology (Aurora, Ill.)
*#John Keenoy, Graduate, 3.72 GPA, MBA (Kentwood, Mich.)
Justin Tranquill, Junior, 3.62 GPA, Sales & Business Marketing (Huntertown, Ind.)
*Jon Wassink, Junior, 3.95 GPA, Accountancy (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
*2017 Distinguished Scholar-Athlete
#2016 Distinguished Scholar-Athlete

MEN'S SOCCER (3)
*Anthony Bowie, Junior, 4.00 GPA, Sales and Business Marketing (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
*Tommy Clark, Senior, 3.93 GPA, Biomedical Science (South Bend, Ind.)
Jake DeJulio, Junior, 4.00 GPA, Food & Consumer Marketing (Overland Park, Kan.)
*2017 Distinguished Scholar-Athlete

WOMEN'S SOCCER (4)
Alyssa Burke, Senior, 3.86 GPA, Interpersonal Communication (Davison, Mich.)
Paige Dobbs, Senior, 3.96 GPA, Biomedical Science (Wixom, Mich.)
Hannah Kahn, Junior, 3.86 GPA, Occupational Therapy (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.)
Hannah Sargent, R-Freshman, 4.00 GPA, Aerospace Engineering (Lewis Center, Ohio)

VOLLEYBALL (2)
Rachel Bontrager, Sophomore, 3.91, Pre-Speech Path/Audiology (Valparaiso, Indiana)
*Kathleen Reilly, Junior, 3.72, Nursing (Overland Park, Kansas)
*2017 Distinguished Scholar-Athlete