FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2014
Bentley's Battista headlines Winter Sport Excellence recipients
SOUTH EASTON, Mass. – The Northeast-10 Conference is pleased to announce its 2013-14 Winter Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Awards winners from seven winter sports.
Receiving recognition is The College of Saint Rose senior
Dominykas Milka (men’s basketball,
Bentley University senior Lauren Battista
(women’s basketball), Assumption College junior
Brennen Shaw (ice hockey), Southern
Connecticut State University junior Dan
Elliot (men’s swimming & diving), Pace
University grad student Kaitlyn Lynch
(women’s swimming & diving), So. Connecticut senior
Logan Sharpe (men’s indoor track
& field) and University of New Haven junior Ada
Udaya (women’s indoor track & field).
The Northeast-10’s Sport Excellence program recognizes
student-athletes that have excelled both on the field and in the
classroom. To be eligible, a student-athlete must have completed at
least two consecutive semesters of enrollment at their current
institution, two total years of athletic eligibility, and maintain
a minimum cumulative grade point average of a 3.30.
Milka, who for his efforts on the court was a Northeast-10
All-Conference First Team selection this season, received Capital
One Academic All-America honors this past winter for the second
time in his career. The senior and Ridgewood, N.Y. native has a
3.65 GPA as an Accounting major (and a 4.0 as a grad student) and
this season averaged 20.7 points and 12.4 rebounds for the Golden
Knights, as he closed out his career with 42 double-doubles. He was
also featured on a segment of ‘I
am the Northeast-10’ last month.
Battista ended her illustrious playing career at Bentley the way
the Falcons hoped, capping an undefeated 2013-14 campaign (35-0)
with a 73-65 victory over West Texas A&M in Erie, Pa. to win
the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball national
championship. A North Easton, Mass. native and Marketing &
Liberal Studies, Battista carries a 3.95 GPA and averaged 17.4
points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 57.5 percent this
season.
Her four-year resume includes numerous honors both on and off the
court. She is a two-time Northeast-10 Player of the Year (2012,
2014) and a three-time Capital One Academic All-America selection,
which included being named the 2014 Capital One Academic
All-America of the Year for her sport. She was also named the
Northeast-10 Championship Most Outstanding Player all four years at
Bentley, a feat that had never been accomplished in conference
annals, while Thursday’s announcement marks her third
straight Northeast-10 Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award.
Shaw, a junior Business major with a 3.96 GPA, appeared in all 25
games this past winter for the Hounds, registering a goal and seven
assists for eight points on the ice. A Presque Isle, Maine native,
Shaw earned Northeast-10 First Team honors two years ago and has
twice earned the Assumption College Premier Student-Athlete Award
for a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Elliot is a Bellmore, N.Y. native with a 3.68 GPA as an Exercise
Science major at So. Connecticut, where he helped the Owls to their
10th conference title in 11 years this past February. He was
victorious in five 2014 Northeast-10 Championship events, including
four record-setting relay teams.
Lynch, the 2014 Northeast-10 Women’s Swimmer of the Year,
also earned Women’s Swimmer of the Meet honors at the 2014
Northeast-10 Championship after finishing first in three events,
which included setting a new conference record in the 50 freestyle.
The Vallejo, Calif. native has a 3.68 GPA as an Applied Psychology
and Human Relations major.
Sharpe owns a 3.50 GPA as an Exercise Science major at So.
Connecticut, as he helped lead the Owls to the 2014 Northeast-10
Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championship in late February.
A seven-time All-American for his career, the Esperance, N.Y.
native qualified for the this year’s NCAA Indoor
Championships in the 400 meters and 4x400 relay.
Udaya has established herself as one of the nation’s elite
female athletes on the track, as she finished second in the 60
meters and fifth in the 200 meters at the 2014 NCAA Women’s
Indoor Championships. A West Haven, Conn. native, the junior was
also named the 2014 Northeast-10 Women’s Track Athlete of the
Year and USTFCCCA East Region Women’s Track Athlete of the
Year. She carries a 3.82 GPA as a Biology-Premedical major.
For past Sport Excellence winners, please click here.
The Northeast-10 Conference is an association of 15 NCAA Division
II colleges and universities located in New England and New York
that is committed to supporting balanced academic and athletic
opportunities for more than 6,000 student-athletes. Each year,
4,000 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships
in 23 sports, making the NE-10 the largest DII conference in the
country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the
classroom, on the field and within the community, the Northeast-10
is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it
provides student-athletes.
Northeast-10
Conference Fall 2013 Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Winners
Men’s Basketball - Dominykas Milka, The
College of Saint Rose
Women’s Basketball – Lauren Battista, Bentley
University
Men’s Ice Hockey - Brennen Shaw, Assumption College
Men’s Swimming & Diving - Daniel Elliot, Southern
Connecticut State University
Women’s Swimming & Diving - Kaitlyn Lynch, Pace
University
Men’s Indoor Track & Field - Logan Sharpe, Southern
Connecticut State University
Women’s Indoor Track & Field - Ada Udaya, University of
New Haven
– #NE10 –
