Student-Athletes Honored at All-Sports Banquet

Wesleyan held its annual all-sports banquet for seniors, captains and award winners May 5 in Beckham Hall. During the festivities, teams which had concluded their seasons announced their award winners. In addition, the recipients of major departmental awards were honored.

Announced for the first time were the winners of the 2009-10 Suki Hoagland Award for outstanding contributions to women’s athletics and the Carl Aherns Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to men’s athletics.

The Aherns Award went to 125-pound wrestler Dan Bloom ‘10, who won his second consecutive New England Wrestling Association title and competed in the NCAA Division III Championships for a second time. Over his four years, he posted a dual-match record of 42-15 and an overall regular-season mark of 102-30 while going 13-5 and 27-6, respectively, in 2009-10. He had a 2-4 record in his two NCAA appearances. Bloom was a two-time academic all-NESCAC choice and received scholar All-America laurels from the National Wrestling Coaches Association on three occasions.

Receiving the Hoagland Award was softball standout Meaghan Dendy ’10 and distance running specialist Ravenna Neville ‘10. Neville was an NCAA Division III Cross-Country All-American during the fall of 2009 when she placed 22nd at the National Championship. She led the Cardinals to a 14th-place national finish as a team. Along the way, Neville was the Little Three champ, runner-up in the NESCAC Championship to earn All-NESCAC first-team honors, and an all-New England Division III competitor after finishing second.

She has been consistently active in both indoor and outdoor track as well and is currently ranked 13th in Division III for the 5,000-meter event as a provisional NCAA qualifier. Neville was all-New England Division III in cross-country in 2008 and participated in the NCAA Division III Championship that year as well. She has been an academic all-NESCAC honoree twice in all three of her sports.

Dendy has been a four-year mainstay for the softball team as a pitcher and infielder. Named first-team all-NESCAC in 2007, 2008 and 2009 with a Pitcher of the Year honors in 2008 as well, Dendy has helped the Cardinals qualify for the NESCAC tournament four straight times and win the crown and automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championship in 2010. She is Wesleyan’s all-time leader in hits (currently 185), doubles (30) and pitching victories (39).

She set a school record for RBI in a season in 2010 with 34 and is tied for the record in doubles with 11. She also holds the Wesleyan seasonal mark for pitching victories with 12 in 2009. Dendy enters the 2010 NCAA tournament with a .350 batting average and a 9-8 pitching record with a 3.43 earned-run average.

She was an honorable-mention all-New England choice in 2009 after receiving third-team honors in 2008. A two-time academic all-NESCAC selection, Dendy has academic scholar-athlete recognition from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association in 2009 to her credit. (Note – The 2010 all-NESCAC softball team has not yet been announced).