Twenty-nine NAIA All American Scholar-Athlete Awards given to fall athletes

GOSHEN, Ind. – A year after recording a Goshen College record 50 Daktronics-NAIA All American Scholar-Athlete awards, Maple Leaf student-athletes are again on a historic pace.

As fall national championships wrap up at multiple sites throughout the country, the academic awards continue to roll in. After eight Goshen College cross country student-athletes were recognized with the honor in mid-November, 21 more soccer and volleyball players received recognition this week, bringing the total to 29 awards for fall athletes.

Nominated by each institution’s head coach, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and have achieved junior academic status to qualify.

In men’s soccer, an incredible 10 student-athletes earned the scholar-athlete award as the Leafs tied with Westminster (Utah) College for the most of any program in the country.

The complete list of award winners for the men’s soccer team is: seniors Mark Hershberger (Harrisonburg, Va.), Nick Good (Lititz, Pa.), Alex Caskey (Goshen, Ind.), Jordan Delp (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Drew Stoltzfus (Souderton, Pa.), David Shenk (Harrisonburg, Va.), Luke Woodworth (Middlebury, Ind.), Kyle Stiffney (Goshen, Ind.) and juniors Martin Brubaker (Goshen, Ind.) and Rick Eigsti (Goshen, Ind.).

Five members of the Maple Leaf volleyball team also earned the national recognition.  Seniors Allison Hawkins (Middlebury, Ind.), Ashley Janssen (Crawfordsville, Ind.), Gina Richard (Goshen, Ind.) and juniors Brittany Herschberger (Goshen, Ind.) and Alicia Schwartzentruber (Goshen, Ind.) each were recognized for their work in the classroom. The feat is even more impressive considering three of them have been named to the all MCC teams at least once during their career.

The women’s soccer team continued their tradition of excelling in the classroom as six players were honored, including juniors Elizabeth Gunden (Chelsea, Mich.) and Chloe Mathonnet-Vanderwell (Pella, Iowa), and seniors Heather Zimmerman (Barrigada, Guam), Trish Hershberger (Aurora, Ore.), Liz Nafziger (Goshen, Ind.), and Laura Schlabach (Goshen, Ind.).

For the Goshen College women’s cross country team, seniors Maria Byler (Goshen, Ind.), Michelle Miller (Bellefontaine, Ohio), Renee Miller (Waterloo, Iowa) and Tina Peters (Yellow Springs, Ohio) were all recipients, while Ben Bouwman (Woodridge, Ill.), Nick Bouwman (Woodridge, Ill.), Zac Miller (Centreville, Mich.) and Max Wyse (Columbus, Ohio) – all seniors –were honored on the men’s team.

The fall total – cross country, soccer and volleyball, is 29 for the Maple Leafs. Prior to the 2008-09 school year, the highest total in an entire academic year for Goshen was 24. That number was smashed last year and has already been surpassed once again this year.

Earlier this fall, a video was produced – featuring senior Tina Peters – to honor the outstanding student-athletes at Goshen College. View the video and learn more about academics and athletics at Goshen College: goleafs.net/2009/11/features/sid-blog-behind-the-scenes/. 

– by Josh Gleason, Goshen College Sports Information Director

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College Sports Information Director Josh Gleason at (574) 535-7497 or joshag@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S. News & World Report‘s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.