Embrace the Philosophy: NE10 Releases Sport Excellence Award Winners for Spring Season

Posted: Jul 01, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SNHU with League-Best Three Sport Excellence Winners.

MANSFIELD, Mass. – Despite a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Northeast-10 Conference is proud to recognize its Sport Excellence Award winners for the spring, recognizing 10 student-athletes for their remarkable achievements in athletics and in the classroom.

Six different institutions were represented in the Sport Excellence awards, including a league-high three selections from Southern New Hampshire. American International's Benoit Campion, the NE10 Man of the Year, earned more accolades by capturing the Sport Excellence honor for men's outdoor track & field.

Alanna Murphy (women's outdoor track & field), Bas van Biezen (men's tennis) and Maddy Barone (softball) represented the Penmen as Sport Excellence winners. Both Adelphi and Bentley each produced a pair of winners – Justin Napolitano (men's lacrosse) and Alison Johnson (women's lacrosse) for the Panthers and Max Troiani (baseball) and Tommy Ethier (men's golf) for the Falcons.

Assumption's Catherine French (women's golf) and Stonehill's Annelise Howick (women's tennis) rounded-out the list of award recipients.

Only the sports of men's golf, women's golf and women's tennis had Academic All-Conference teams in the NE10 this spring, but each league institution was able to nominate one student-athlete per the remaining sports to be considered for Sport Excellence honors.

Normally to be qualified for Sport Excellence recognition, a student-athlete must have started at least half or played in two-thirds of all contests while making significant contributions to their team and maintaining a 3.3 GPA (on a 4.0 scale).

Criteria were altered this spring due to the pandemic. To be eligible for Sport Excellence, student-athletes must have:

Completed at least two years of athletic eligibility at any institution (not including the 2020 season).
Completed at least two consecutive semesters at their current institution (not including the last semester completed).
A minimum cumulative grade point average of a 3.30. Graduate student-athletes must meet the minimum GPA in both undergraduate and graduate work.

For more information on each Sport Excellence honoree, please see below.

BASEBALL

Name: Max Troiani
School: Bentley
GPA: 3.74
Major: Economics/Finance
Notes: Second in the NE10 in hits and fourth in total bases this season…Career batting average of .320 is the best for a Bentley player since 2010…Academic All-District for third-straight year…Recipient of Edward J. Powers Scholar-Athlete Award as Bentley's premiere senior scholar-athlete…Bentley's nominee for NE10 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

MEN'S GOLF

Name: Tommy Ethier
School: Bentley
GPA: 3.64
Major: Corporate Finance and Accounting
Notes: Northeast-10 Player of the Year…Second-straight year named NE10 All-Conference First Team…PING All-Region for third-consecutive year…CoSIDA Academic All-District…Tied for first in Saint Rose Fall Shootout…Five tournaments in 2019-20 and finished with a 73.0 stroke average…Broke par six times with a low score of 69 in the Franklin Pierce Fall Invitational.

WOMEN'S GOLF

Name: Catherine French
School: Assumption
GPA: 3.69
Major: Biology
Notes: NE10 Academic All-Conference…Third place individual finish and second place team finish at NE10 Championship…First place (147) at the Franklin Pierce Women's Fall Invitational…NE10 First Team All-Conference.

MEN'S LACROSSE

Name: Justin Napolitano
School: Adelphi
GPA: 3.55
Major: Sport Management
Notes: Scored first goal of 2020 and scooped up five ground balls at Lenoir-Rhyne (3/1)…Collected four ground balls and game-high four caused turnovers in 24-2 win at AIC (3/7)…USILA Preseason All-America First Team…Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Division II Preseason All-America Second Team…NE10 Academic Honor Roll – Academic Distinction (Fall, 2019).

WOMEN'S LACROSSE

Name: Alison Johnson
School: Adelphi
GPA: 3.93
Major: Sociology
Notes: Led all players with six points (1 G, 5 A) in season-opening win over Molloy (2/15)…Recorded four points (1 G, 3 A) in overtime victory at Rollins (2/23)…First Team CoSIDA At-Large Academic All-American…CoSIDA Academic All-District…Inside Lacrosse Media All-American…NE10 Academic Honor Roll – Academic Distinction (Fall, 2019).

MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD

Name: Benoit Campion
School: American International
GPA: 4.0
Major: Exercise Science
Notes: NE10 Man of the Year…Best indoor mile time in the country…Top-20 times in the 800, mile and 3K…Won the mile and 3K titles at NE10 Indoor Championship…Member of the 4x800 title team at NEICAAA…Helped AIC win the NE10 Cross Country Championship…Finished in the top 75 at the NCAA Cross Country Championship…Finished third at the East Region Cross Country Championship…Placed second at NE10 Cross Country Championship…Three USTFCCCA All-American honors…NE10 Indoor Academic All-Conference…USTFCCCA NCAA Division II East Region Track Athlete of the Year.

WOMEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD

Name: Alanna Murphy
School: Southern New Hampshire
GPA: 3.92
Major: Sport Management
Notes: Currently the Penmen program record holder in 10 indoor and outdoor events, including the pentathlon, where she earned a third-place finish at the 2020 NE10 Championship…Owns four program records in the hurdles at distances ranging from 55m to 400m…USTFCCCA All-East Region (indoor: pentathlon)…CoSIDA Academic All-District…NE10 Academic All-Conference for indoor.

MEN'S TENNIS

Name: Bas van Biezen
School: Southern New Hampshire
GPA: 3.74
Major: Business Administration
Notes: Went 55-17 in singles play over the course of his career, as well as 57-23 in doubles…Advanced to the finals of the ITA East Regional Championship singles final in 2019...Ranked as high as No. 49 in the country and No. 2 in the region in singles during his career…ITA Division II Most Improved Senior…ITA East Region Most Improved Senior…CoSIDA Academic All-District.

SOFTBALL

Name: Maddy Barone
School: Southern New Hampshire
GPA: 3.95
Major: Mathematics
Notes: Made 96 appearances and 77 starts over her four-year career…Went 51-24 in the circle with two saves and a 1.78 ERA…Over 530 innings, struck out 431 and walked just 107…Hurled 51 complete games…CoSIDA Academic All-American…CoSIDA Academic All-District.

WOMEN'S TENNIS

Name: Annelise Howick
School: Stonehill
GPA: 3.60
Major: Health Science
Notes: 11-2 doubles record, including 7-1 in the NE10, with partner Cristina Solarzano Valencia to form the No. 7-ranked doubles tandem in the Oracle/ITA Division II East Regional rankings…Doubles team reached semifinals of USTA/ITA Division II East Regional…Helped Skyhawks to fourth-straight NE10 regular season title and second-straight NE10 Tournament Championship to earn automatic bid to NCAA Tournament…NE10 All-Conference Second Team at No. 2 doubles with Valencia…NE10 Academic Honor Roll both semesters, with perfect 4.0 GPA for spring 2020 semester…Athletic Director's Honor Roll both semesters…Lambda Epsilon Sigma honor society.

ABOUT THE NE10
The NE10 is an association of 14 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete.

Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE10 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 NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.