Links: NE10 Release
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College Athletics Department saw a school-record 13 student-athletes earn Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference recognition on Wednesday morning, as announced by the league offices. Headlining the group were recent graduate
Eric Coburn of the men's lacrosse program and rising senior
Krystal Knight of the women's golf squad, who each received the distinguished Sports Excellence Award as the top student-athlete from their respective sport.
The 13 total honorees in 2018 bested last spring's school record of 11. Merrimack tied with Le Moyne for the most student-athletes recognized among NE10 institutions. The Warriors were also one of three schools, joining Adelphi and Le Moyne, with multiple Sports Excellence Award recipients.
There was at least one Warrior honored in eight different spring sports with a team-high three coming from the baseball program, who joined Adelphi softball and Bentley men's golf as the only programs with at least three selections. Merrimack had two representatives each from the men's lacrosse, softball, and men's tennis programs while the women's golf, women's tennis, men's track and field as well as the women's track and field squad each had one selection.
A total of 93 spring sport student-athletes collected NE10 Academic All-Conference accolades. Of the 93 that were recognized, 39 are repeat honorees from last year. One Sport Excellence Award winner was also chosen from the following ten spring sports sports: baseball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, softball, men's and women's tennis, and men's and women's outdoor track and field.
To be eligible for selection to the NE10 Academic All-Conference teams, a student-athlete must have met or exceeded the following minimum requirements: 1) participated in at least half of the team's competitions and been either a starter or significant contributor; and 2) achieved a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale).
A repeat selection on the league's all-academic squad, Coburn his first NE10 Sports Excellence Award recognition in the process, as well. The former NCAA Division II Elite 90 Award winner (2017), who was an NEILA All-Academic Team selection, adds to his list of accolades from his best year as a Warrior. He was one of Merrimack's eight all-region first team selections by garnering the first such accolade of his career and earned New England Long Stick Midfielder of the Year honors, as well. The business major who graduated with a 3.765 GPA was a force as a senior, helping push the ball in transition, gaining key possessions on loose-ball faceoff scrums and wreaking plenty of havoc on defense. His 21 caused turnovers led the team, while his 47 ground balls were the most on the squad for any non-faceoff specialist. He added five points (3g, 2a) on the year, as well, to help the Warriors take home the national title for the first time.
A second-time NE10 All-Academic selection, Knight – who was also a CoSIDA Academic All-District pick – concluded arguably the best individual season from a statistical standpoint by any golfer in program history but was equally dominant in the classroom. The junior became the fourth straight Warrior to win the individual medalist honor at the 2017 NE10 Women's Golf Championship, winning the league title for the first time in her career in dramatic fashion. She was Merrimack's top golfer all year, averaging a team-low 76.26 strokes per round over 19 rounds of competition. Five of those 15 rounds were even par or lower, and of the nine events she competed in, she won five of them outright, placed in the top-five in six of them and was slotted in the top-10 of seven of them. Knight was a four-time NE10 Golfer of the Week, and she tied the program's single-round record with a 70 earlier in the year, as well. She has a 3.975 GPA in Biology heading into her senior year.
A now three-time NE10 Academic All-Conference selection,
Mikhail Belov of the men's tennis team added another academic accolade to his distinguished four-year career. Belov became the second Google Cloud Academic All-American in program history last month, after graduating with a 3.834 grade point average as an electrical engineering major. Belov finished his Warriors career as a three-time academic all-district honoree as well as a four-time all-conference selection including first and second team selections this past spring. Merrimack's top singles and doubles option set a career best with 35 total victories this spring, including a 16-11 singles ledger and a 19-11 doubles mark.
Coming off another incredible spring that saw him earn the national co-player of the year award, as well as All-America, all-region and all-conference first team honors, rising junior
Charlie Bertrand established himself as one of the best players in the country and one of the nation's elite student-athletes by way of his in-the-classroom accolades. In addition to claiming all-academic honors at the league level, he was named a Google Cloud Second Team All-American, as well as taking home the Elite 90 Award at NCAA Championship Weekend, as well. The Mechanical Engineering major with a 3.95 GPA was one of the top players on a team that dominated the competition on the way to its first national championship in May; he finished as the league's leader in goals scored with a career-high 62 tallies while ranking fifth nationally averaging 3.44 goals per game. He also ranked 11th nationally in scoring average (4.39). Overall, the sophomore finished with a career-high 79 points (62g, 17a) and had at least two points in every single game with four seven-plus-point outings, as well as 12 games with three or more goals.
Another men's tennis student-athlete, rising junior
Alex Fedorov earned his first-ever academic all-conference accolade with a near 4.0 (3.958) GPA as an accounting/finance major. An honoree on the all-conference first team (#2 doubles) and all-conference second team (#3 singles), Fedorov won a career-high 37 matches in 2017-18, which equaled the most total single-season wins for a Warrior in the last 11 years. The Guilderland, N.Y. native did not lose a NE10 doubles match in the regular season, and won eight of his nine league singles tilts. He led Merrimack with 19 total singles victories.
Rising junior
Thomas Joyce was one of three baseball student-athletes recognized on the all-academic squad, which was tied for the most honorees of any program. Joyce enjoyed a breakout campaign as Merrimack's primary first baseman, which also saw the left-handed hitter earn a spot on the Google Cloud Academic All-District squad. Owning a 3.837 GPA as an economics major, Joyce set career bests in hits (52), runs (33), extra-base hits (13), doubles (8), homers (3) and triples (2). He ranked fourth on Merrimack with a .456 slugging percentage, and tied for second in round trippers.
Now a two-time academic all-conference selection, spring graduate
Lauren MacGregor graduated as one of the most decorated individual student-athletes in jumping events on the women's side following another fantastic outdoor season. She earned United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region honors in the triple jump during the indoor and outdoor seasons and set school records in both events over the course of the outdoor season. Her performance in the triple jump at the New England Championships was particularly special, when she placed third with a school-record 11.61-meter performance. She also ran on a 4x100-meter relay team that finished second at the league's outdoor championship meet, earning all-conference second team honors, as well. She graduated with a 3.895 GPA in computer science.
Rising senior
Nicole Nanof was one of two academic all-conference representatives for the softball program. Another Google Cloud Academic All-District designee, Nanof ended her junior year with a 3.933 cumulative GPA in the biology program. The Warriors' starting center fielder enjoyed a career year that featured her first-ever all-conference selection on the third team, slashing .313/.395/.520 with a team-leading seven homers and 32 RBI. Nanof also added 47 hits, 16 of which went for extra bases, eight doubles, one triple and 35 runs scored.
Boasting an impressive list of athletic accomplishments to go with his mechanical engineering major and 3.375 GPA, rising junior
Joey Porricelli earned his first academic accolade of any kind with a spot on the academic all-conference squad. Porricelli ranked on the NE10 All-Conference Third Team at third base, enjoying a career season that saw him lead the NE10 in doubles (18), rank second in both runs scored (60) and steals (29) and eighth in triples (3). The 2018 season saw the Monroe, Conn. native become the third Warrior ever with a 60-run season, and he finished the year ranking second all-time in the single-season hits department with 77.
The first of two Google Cloud Academic All-Americans from the spring to be mentioned, rising senior
Matthew Ronai earned his rightful place as an academic all-conference selection. It marked his second straight honor in addition to the sports medicine major's back-to-back academic all-district nods. Ronai owns a 3.808 GPA, and was an all-conference first-team selection as a designated hitter in addition to his three all-region selection in 2018. Ronai set career highs in hits (67), runs (39), RBI (43), doubles (16), OBP (.410) and steals (10), and will enter 2019 among the top eight in school history in all three slash statistics (.337/.397/.447). He finished among the top 15 in the NE10 in batting average, doubles, hits, extra-base hits and total bases.
One of seven women's tennis student-athletes to be selected across the NE10, rising senior
Mana Seifaei picked up academic all-conference honors for the second straight year. An electrical engineering major and owner of a 3.933 GPA, Seifaei won 14 total matches as Merrimack's No. 1 singles option and No. 1 doubles competitor. The former ITA East Region Rookie of the Year also boasts 2017 ITA Scholar-Athlete accolades, with a chance to earn a second straight recognition from the ITA later this summer.
Recent graduate
Keith Steinbrecher earned his first spot on the NE10 All-Academic Team after a fantastic finish to his career as a Warrior during the outdoor track & field circuit. After previously earning his second career selection to the CoSIDA/Google Cloud Academic All-District squad, the mechanical engineering major finished the year with a 3.567 GPA. He was named to the USTFCCCA All-Region team in the 3000m Steeplechase, an event in which he was a provisional qualifier during the outdoor campaign. He was crowned an NE10 champion and earned First-Team All-Conference honors after winning the event back in early May and then finished fifth at the New England Outdoor Championships a week later before just missing out on qualifying for the national championship. He also earned all-region accolades during the cross country and indoor season, as well.
The fifth senior to be recognized,
Alyssa Williamson added her second academic all-conference selection in as many springs to an already decorated campaign. The NE10 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Google Cloud Academic All-American First Team selection wrapped up her Merrimack career with a 3.904 GPA in the psychology department. Merrimack's team captain and starting first baseman earned her second consecutive NFCA and D2CCA All-East Region this past spring in addition to her second of back-to-back nods on the all-league first team. The NCAA Woman of the Year nominee set career highs in 2018 with a NE10-leading .441 batting average, 71 total hits, a 1.000 OPS and 25 runs scored. The Scarborough, Maine native added 29 RBI, 13 extra-base hits and her second-ever homer.
