General | July 09, 2018

CLEVELAND – The Mid-American Conference announced today the Distinguished Scholar Athletes from the eight spring sports during this 2017-18 academic season 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 six spring sports, the Broncos produced 13 honorees. WMU had 16 student-athletes recognized in the fall and eight in the winter, giving Western Michigan a total of 37 Distinguished Scholar Athletes for the academic year.

The Distinguished Scholar Athlete is a fourth-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 2017-18 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.

WMU SPRING DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR-ATHLETES

TRACK & FIELD
Sarah Anderson, Western Michigan, Sophomore, 3.51 GPA, Exercise Science (Grand Rapids, MI)
Erin Dowd, Western Michigan, Sophomore, 3.67 GPA, Chemical Engineering (Brighton, MI)
Allison Hufnagel, Western Michigan, Junior, 3.92 GPA, Film, Video & Media Studies (Fowler, MI)
Maria McDaniel, Western Michigan, Senior, 3.94 GPA, Occupational Therapy (Naperville, IL)

WOMEN'S GOLF
*#Julia Champion, Western Michigan, Senior, 3.91 GPA, Criminal Justice (Markham, Ontario)

MEN'S TENNIS
Jannik Opitz, Western Michigan, Sophomore, Pre-Business, 4.00 GPA (Hildesheim, Germany)

WOMEN'S TENNIS
*Denise Azcui, Western Michigan, Junior, 3.93 GPA, Industrial & Entrepreneurial Engineering (Bloomington, IN)

SOFTBALL
*Jordan Kurth, Western Michigan, Junior, 3.840 GPA, Computer Information Systems (Aurora, IL)
Aspen Williams, Western Michigan, Senior, 3.270 GPA, Exercise Science (Cheboygan, MI)

BASEBALL
Jesse Forestell, Western Michigan, Junior, 3.74 GPA, Marketing (Chicago, IL)
Andrew Reisinger, Western Michigan, Senior, 3.79 GPA, Management (McHenry, IL)
Andrew Stone, Western Michigan, Junior, 3.73 GPA, Sports Management (Portage, MI)
*Jack Szott, Western Michigan, Sophomore, 3.93 GPA, Accounting (Naperville, IL)

*2016-17 Distinguished Scholar-Athlete
#2015-16 Distinguished Scholar-Athlete