Jul 22, 2005
LOWELL, MA – Shannon Seidel, a senior from Seattle, WA (Nathan Hale H.S.) was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division II Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Tuesday, announced ECAC Assistant Commissioner for Communication Heidi Kravchuk.
The award, sponsored by Cincinnati-based Robbins Sports Surfaces, honors the outstanding academic, athletic and community service achievements of student-athletes representing ECAC schools in Division I, II and III.
Three committees comprised of athletic administrators selected one male and one female student-athlete from each division.
Seidel will be honored at the ECAC Convention Honors Dinner presented by Jostens on Sunday, Sept. 25. She is the second UML student-athlete in five years to receive the coveted ECAC distinction as former football player and Lowell, MA, native Bobby Montgomery earned the honor in 2002.
Assumption College senior James Newman was named the Division II male recipient.
The honor is the latest of many over the 2004-05 year for Seidel, who is currently spending the month of July in Thailand teaching English to children orphaned by the Tsunami last December. Seidel recently accepted a full scholarship to attend medical school at the University of California at Santa Barbara beginning this fall.
On May 10, Seidel was named UMass Lowell’s Laurie Mann Award recipient for female student-athlete of the year at UML’s annual Excellence Banquet. She was also a member of the CoSIDA District 1 (Northeast) Academic All-America Team.
Fresh off her best season, Seidel successfully defended the title of “New England’s Most Versatile College Athlete” as she captured the New England Indoor Pentathlon – against NCAA Division I, II and III athletes – for the second straight year in March. She helped the River Hawks to third place at the New England Championship, which pits all New England Division I, II and III colleges against one another. Seidel also guided UML to its fourth straight Northeast-10 Conference indoor title as she captured the high jump for the third successive year.
Seidel enjoyed a very successful outdoor season, highlighted by a fourth-place finish at the Penn Relays, in which she was the highest-finishing non-Division I athlete in the field. She was also named to the NE-10 first team in the high jump.
The consummate student-athlete, Seidel graduated with a staggering 3.948 grade point average as a biology major and was named to the Dean’s List each of her eight semesters.
At UML’s 2005 Commencement on June 5, Seidel was one of six students in a student body of 6,000 to receive the Chancellor’s Medal for her contributions to the University. She was also recognized for achieving the top grade point average among UML student-athletes.
Additionally, Seidel was active in the campus and Lowell community, volunteering her time to causes such as the Merrimack Valley Special Olympics, the Reilly School Reading Program and Take Our Daughters to College Day.
Seidel also served as a resident advisor for three years and helped the track and field teams in areas such as travel, meet preparation/management and logistics.
“I’ve coached college athletes for 11 years and she is by far the best leader I have ever had,” said third-year coach Gary Gardner. “I don’t know how we’ll replace the leadership qualities that the she has. As good an athlete she is, what was equally important are the intangibles she brought to the team. We’ll need five athletes to replace what she has brought to this program.”
Seidel is the daughter of David and Ruth Seidel of Seattle, WA.
The ECAC’s membership includes 324 Divisions I, II, and III colleges and universities from Maine to North Carolina. The conference provides services to its constituents that include: administration of 110 championships and events in 35 men’s and women’s sports; assigning officials in 15 sports; coordinating awards; administration of affiliate organizations, conventions, meetings, marketing, officiating, playing leagues, public relations and special events.
The ECAC serves as the primary conference for selected members in the sports of men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s lacrosse, men’s gymnastics, wrestling, fencing and rowing.
For over 100 years, Robbins Sports Surfaces has set the standard for basketball and multi-purpose sports floors and is the preferred provider of many NCAA Division I colleges and universities and the majority of the National Basketball Association (NBA) championship floors.
Robbins is the world's most comprehensive provider of maple and synthetic flooring systems for all collegiate sports. Robbins' product research and development has led the way in studying the dynamic interaction between the athlete and the surface. Our advanced flooring systems and subfloor designs are bio-mechanically engineered to advance the comfort, safety and performance of athletes, and are all designed to provide dependability and value for the facility owner.
