Student-athletes honored with NJCAA and conference academic awards

Moraine Valley Community College student-athletes continued to prove their merit in the classroom this past year. Among nearly 60,000 student-athletes who compete in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), six Moraine Valley student-athletes were recognized with the Academic Student-Athlete Award for their academic achievements and five squads were named All-Academic Teams for the 2012-13 school year. Additionally, 28 students were named Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) 2012-13 All-Academic Athletes of the Year, leading the conference once again in honorees.

Being named an NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete requires having higher than a 3.6 G.P.A. after 45 course credit hours and participating in the college’s sport for a least one season. Women’s tennis player Nicole Selvaggio (Marist); women’s soccer player Natalia Patrzyk (Oak Lawn); baseball player Dominick Paolella (Lincoln-Way North); men’s golfer Dan Dermody (St. Laurence); and softball players Samantha Staisiunas (Andrew) and Courtney Wheaton (Illiana Christian) received this honor. Selvaggio received the Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence for attaining a 4.0 G.P.A. Only 169 student-athletes received that distinction.

The 2012-13 NJCAA All-Academic Teams are women’s cross country, women’s tennis, men’s tennis, softball, and volleyball. Teams qualify for this honor if they have an overall team GPA above 3.0.

To qualify for the ISCC distinction students must have earned a 3.0 or higher G.P.A. after completing at least 48 course credit hours while participating in one of the college’s 12 sports. Within the conference, 134 student-athletes received this honor. The athletes selected were baseball players Darin Bach (Louisiana), Mike Habas (Homewood-Flossmoor), Martin Joyce (Lockport Township), Dan Kenealy (Richards), Paolella, Kevin Siergiej (Shepard), and Jeremy Vandergriff (Argo); men’s basketball player Zoran Arsenovic (Lincoln-Way East); golfer Dermody; men’s soccer players Kris Dolinsky (Indiana) and Deya Elayyan (Stagg); men’s tennis players Kevin Davenport (Lincoln-Way Central), Jair Gutierrez Gomez (Plainfield Central) and David Smith (Lincoln-Way North); softball players Kristin Renken (Richards), Staisiunas, Jenny Vanek (Mother McAuley), and Wheaton; volleyball player Bridget Williams (Mount Assisi Academy); women’s basketball players Stephanie Karl (Lockport), Kayla McKinney (Shepard) and Bridget Niemiec (Oak Lawn); women’s soccer players Monserrat Espinosa (Hubbard), Stephanie Navarrete (Shepard), Patrzyk, and Ashley Solus (Richards); and women’s tennis players Kayla Annerino (Oak Lawn) and Selvaggio.

Selvaggio was awarded the Dick Durrant Award for the highest G.P.A. in the conference. She was one of four athletes in the ISCC to receive this honor.

“We are so proud of our student-athletes who realize that their education is paramount to their future success. They have done an exceptional job balancing the rigors of intercollegiate athletics, and representing Moraine Valley on the competition fields and in the classroom,” said athletics director Bill Finn.