Ten Zips Earn MAC Winter Distinguished Scholar Athlete Honors

Ten Zips Earn MAC Winter Distinguished Scholar Athlete Honors

May 07 | General, Track & Field, Women's Swimming & Diving, Academics

Follow Akron Track and Field on Twitter and Facebook
Follow Akron Women's Swimming Diving on Twitter and Facebook

2019-20 WINTER MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR ATHLETE RELEASE

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference has announced the Distinguished Scholar Athletes from the eight winter sports during this 2019-20 academic season as a 10 University of Akron student-athletes were voted by faculty athletic representatives at MAC institutions representing the 'best of the best' from each sport's Academic All-MAC Teams.

In addition to earning a conference-leading seven MAC Distinguished Scholars in women's swimming and diving, the Zips had a trio of student-athletes in seniors Lucy Bryan (Bristol, England) of women's track and field and Mackenzie Vargas (Roseville, Calif.) and Morgan Waggoner (Fremont, Ohio) of women's swimming and diving, collect accolades for the third consecutive campaign.

Senior Jessica Bonezzi (Wooster, Ohio) and junior Paulina Nogaj (Radom, Poland) of women's swimming and diving were repeat selections after being named MAC Distinguished Scholar Athletes a year ago.

Garnering accolades for the first time were sophomores Andrea Fischer (Oak Grove, Minn.), Olivia Gardner (Bromsgrove, England) and Sofia Henell (Linkoping, Sweden) of women's swimming and diving and sophomore Sara Foster (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) and redshirt junior Abby Helminiak (Toledo, Ohio) from women's track and field.

In all, 77 student-athletes from the league's eight winter sports (men's basketball, women's basketball, gymnastics, men's swimming and diving, women's swimming and diving, men's indoor track and field, women's indoor track and field and wrestling) were honored.

The Distinguished Scholar Athlete is a sixth-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, junior college transfers and graduate transfers in their first year of residence were not eligible for the award.

New for this season, the selection for the Distinguished Scholar Athlete included all student-athletes that were recognized as All-MAC selections and Academic All-MAC selections from their respective sport, along with maintaining a 3.50 GPA and above. Previously, a voting process among the MAC Faculty Athletic Representatives determined the selection of the Distinguished Scholar Athletes. MAC membership voted for the change in recognizing the Distinguished Scholar Athletes during the Conference Spring meetings in June of 2019.

Later this spring, the MAC will announce the Distinguished Scholar Athletes from the remaining spring sports sponsored by the Conference.

2019-20 MAC Women's Swimming & Diving Distinguished Scholar Athletes (7):
*Jessica Bonezzi, Sr., 4.0 GPA, Speech Pathology (Wooster, Ohio)
Andrea Fischer, So., 3.6 GPA, Exercise Science, (Oak Grove, Minn.)
Olivia Gardner, So., 3.8 GPA, Business, (Bromsgrove, England)
Sofia Henell, So., 3.936 GPA, Biology, (Linkoping, Sweden)
*Paulina Nogaj, Jr., 4.0 GPA, Strategic and Organizational Communication (Radom, Poland)
*^Mackenzie Vargas, Sr., 3.75 GPA, Business Administration (Roseville, Calif.)
*^Morgan Waggoner, Sr., 3.85 GPA, Biology (Fremont, Ohio)

2019-20 MAC Women's Indoor Track & Field Distinguished Scholar Athletes (3):
*^Lucy Bryan, Sr., 3.772 GPA, Sport Management (Bristol, England)
Sara Foster, So., 3.880 GPA, Nursing (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio)
Abby Helminiak, Jr. (R), 3.745 GPA, Early Childhood Education (Toledo, Ohio)

* 2018-19 Distinguished Scholar-Athlete
^ 2017-18 Distinguished Scholar Athlete
~ 2016-17 Distinguished Scholar-Athlete