FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
South Easton, Mass. – The Northeast-10 Conference has announced its inaugural Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award recipients for the 2010 spring athletic season in the sports of baseball, men's golf, men's & women's lacrosse, softball, men's & women's tennis and men's & women's outdoor track & field.
Nine student-athletes, who excelled both on the field of play and in the classroom during the 2010 spring athletic season, have been recognized. The nine athletes include Assumption College baseball player Michael Colebrook (Leicester, Mass.), Southern New Hampshire University men's golf athlete D.J. Lantz (New London, N.H.), Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse defender Kevin DeBenedetto (Reading, Mass.) and Stonehill College women's lacrosse defender Jaclyn Craig (Rocky Point, N.Y.).
Also being honored is University of New Haven softball player Breanne Gleason (Bristol, Conn.), Stonehill men's tennis player Michael Mashkevich (Goleta, Calif.) and Southern New Hampshire women's tennis player Amber Chandronnait (Bow, N.H.). Furthermore, UMass Lowell men's outdoor track & field athlete Ruben Sanca (Boston, Mass.) and Southern Connecticut State University women's outdoor track & field athlete Laura Brustolon (Mystic, Conn.) were also recognized.
Colebrook graduated with a 3.97 grade point average and was a French/philosophy major at Assumption. He served as team captain his senior season for the baseball team as he finished his career as the winningest lefthander in school history. In his senior season, Colebrook appeared in 12 games, while starting 11. He finished 5-3 and surrendered 86 hits, 41 runs (32 earned), walked nine batters and struck out 60 through 71.0 innings of work. The 2009-2010 Northeast-10 Male Outstanding Scholar-Athlete of the Year earned ESPN the Magazine/Co-SIDA Academic All-District First Team honors this year and was the recipient of the Rev. Armand Desautels Memorial Award as the Premier Senior Student-Athlete at Assumption. Colebrook earned a 4.0 grade point average in both the fall and spring semesters as a senior.
Lantz, a junior business administration major with a 3.70 grade point average, qualified for the NCAA Atlantic/East Regional as an individual this year and finished tied for eighth out of 108 golfers. He recorded a 74.1 stroke average which set a single-season record at Southern New Hampshire. Lantz is a two-time Northeast-10 All-Conference selection after finishing third this year at the NE-10 Championships. Throughout the year, Lantz was consistent as he finished in the top-10 nine times in 10 tournaments. He was also named the 2009-2010 Southern New Hampshire Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was selected to the 2010 Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference team.
DeBenedetto graduated with a 3.49 grade point average and was an international relations with a certificate in Spanish major at Saint Anselm. A four-year member of the men's lacrosse team, DeBenedetto was named the Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Year this season and was an All-Northeast-10 First Team selection. He led the team with 72 ground balls and 54 caused turnovers. DeBenedetto is a four-year NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll honoree and was selected to the 2010 Academic All-Conference team. He was also named the 2010 Saint Anselm Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Craig was an accounting major with a 3.67 GPA and was a member of the women's lacrosse team at Stonehill. She helped lead Stonehill to two NCAA Tournament bids (2007 & 2010), five NE-10 Championships, three regular season titles (2007-2009), and two tournament titles (2007 & 2008) throughout her four-year career. The former NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year is a four-time All-Northeast-10 selection after being named to the First Team for the third straight year this past season. Craig is also a three-time NE-10 Academic All-Conference selection and has made the conference's Commissioner's Honor Roll all four years of her career. She was awarded the Edward E. Martin Scholar-Athlete Award, which is given to the top senior scholar-athlete at Stonehill. In addition, Craig was also named the 2010 IWLCA Division II Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Gleason graduated with a 3.33 grade point average and was a management of sports industries major at New Haven. She finished her senior season as the Northeast-10 Player and Pitcher of the Year as she recorded a NE-10 low 1.28 earned run average in 279 innings of work. She posted a 37-7 record and struck out 335 batter, while allowing just 154 hits throughout the season. She finished second on the team with a .373 batting average with a team-high 57 hits, 10 doubles, 34 RBI and nine homeruns. Gleason was selected to the Co-SIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-Region First Team and was also named to the 2010 Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference team.
Mashkevich graduated with a 3.73 grade point average and was a marketing major at Stonehill. A member of the men's tennis team, Mashkevich has earned All-Northeast-10 First Team honors at the number two singles position the past two seasons as well as earning second team honors at the number one doubles position as a senior. He helped lead the team to the NCAA tournament all four years of his career and to the Northeast-10 Regular Season and Tournament titles in 2009. He is a three-time NE-10 Academic All-Conference selection and has made the conference's Commissioner's Honor Roll every semester. He was also awarded the Edward E. Martin Scholar-Athlete Award by Stonehill which is given to the top senior scholar-athlete.
Chandronnait, a business administration major with a 3.86 grade point average, finished her junior year with a 19-1 dual match singles record and had an 18-4 dual match doubles record. She was named the Northeast-10 Player of the Year for the second straight season after going undefeated in conference play with a 13-0 record in both singles and doubles. Chandronnait helped lead the Penmen to their first-ever Northeast-10 Regular Season and Tournament titles, as well the team's second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. She was also named the 2009-2010 Southern New Hampshire Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was selected to the 2010 Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference team.
Sanca, a graduate student at UMass Lowell, finished the year competing in two events at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He finished fifth in both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs earning All-America honors. Sanca is a four-time All-American in cross country and track and was named the 2010 East Region Track Athlete of the Year. In addition, he was also selected to the 2010 Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference team.
Brustolon, a member of the women's cross country and track & field teams at Southern Connecticut, graduated with a 3.86 grade point average with a degree in biology. During her senior season, Brustolon was named the NE-10 Athlete of the Year in cross country as well as earning All-Region honors. She has been a NCAA qualifier multiple times throughout her career both in cross country and track & field. Brustolon was the recipient of the inaugural NE-10 Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence award for cross country and has been named to the conference's Commissioner's Honor Roll and Academic All-Conference teams multiple times.
With 16 member institutions the Northeast-10 shares the distinction of being the largest Division II conference in the country along with the PSAC and WVIAC. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.
-NE-10-
2010 Northeast-10 Spring
Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award
Baseball - Michael Colebrook - Assumption
Men's Golf - D.J. Lantz - So. New Hampshire
Men's Lacrosse - Kevin DeBenedetto - Saint Anselm
Women's Lacrosse - Jaclyn Craig - Stonehill
Softball - Breanne Gleason - New Haven
Men's Tennis - Michael Mashkevich - Stonehill
Women's Tennis - Amber Chandronnait - So. New Hampshire
Men's Outdoor Track & Field - Ruben Sanca - UMass Lowell
Women's Outdoor Track & Field - Laura Brustolon - So.
Connecticut
