125 Student-Athletes Make NESCAC All-Academic Team

Michael O'BrienJune 4, 20184min
Chen_Action
Steven Chen (men’s tennis). The softball one should be credited to Jonas Powell ’18, and the tennis one should be credited to Christopher Winslow.
Men’s tennis player Steven Chen ’18 was one of 125 Wesleyan student-athletes named to the NESCAC Spring All-Academic Team. (Photo by Christopher Winslow.)

The Wesleyan University spring athletic teams put a total of 125 student-athletes on the 2018 NESCAC Spring All-Academic Team on May 18, while 11 Cardinals earned All-Sportsmanship Team honors as announced by the conference office May 17.

To be named to the All-Academic Team a student-athlete must have reached sophomore academic standing and be a varsity letter winner with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.40. Transfer students are eligible as long as they have completed at least one year of coursework at the institution.

Tufts ranked first in the conference with 157 athletes on the All-Academic list, while Middlebury checked in at the No. 2 slot with 131. Little Three rivals Wesleyan and Williams were tied for the third-most selections with 125 each, as a total of 1,165 individuals from the 11 NESCAC schools earned this honor.

The women’s crew team led the charge for the Cardinals with 19 honorees, while the women’s track and field program saw 16 players earn the achievement. Men’s lacrosse, men’s crew, and baseball each placed 15 people on the All-Academic unit, while men’s track and field (13), women’s lacrosse (11), golf (8), softball (7), women’s tennis (4), and men’s tennis (2) were all represented.

Rielly Wieners (softball)
Softball co-captain Rielly Wieners ’18 was named to the NESCAC All-Sportsmanship Team this spring. (Photo by Jonas Powell ’18.)

The All-Sportsmanship Team is comprised of one student-athlete from each of the NESCAC schools for each sport the conference sponsors, as 112 student-athletes were recognized with this prestigious award. Dana Mitchell ’18 (women’s lacrosse) earned the accolade for the second time in her career. The other 10 award winners from Wesleyan featured Nick Coppola ’18 (baseball), Rielly Wieners ’18 (softball), Collin Hitter ’18 (men’s lacrosse), Cam Daniels ’18 (men’s tennis), Nicole McCann ’18 (women’s tennis), John Henry Vansant ’18 (men’s track and field), Tess Holland ’18 (women’s track and field), Emma Siegenberg ’18 (men’s crew), Sarah Osborn ’19 (women’s crew), and George Blinick ’19 (golf).

Wieners, a co-captain and catcher for the softball team, was one of 11 players in the NESCAC to be named to the All-Conference, All-Academic, and All-Sportsmanship Teams this spring. The West Springfield, Mass., native was a Second Team All-NESCAC selection for the third straight year.

In addition, 22 individuals from Wesleyan were making their third appearance on the Spring All-Academic Team, headlined by Sara Bennett ’18 (women’s lacrosse), Steven Chen ’18 (men’s tennis), Coppola, Jake Cresta ’18 (men’s lacrosse), Emmet Daly ’18 (golf), AJ Ferrara ’18 (baseball), Hitter, Holland, Stephen Howard ’18 (baseball), Matt Jeye ’18 (baseball), Helen Klass-Warch ’18 (women’s tennis), Steve Kovalsky ’18 (men’s lacrosse), Sylwia Lipior ’18 (women’s track and field), Colin Mahoney ’18 (men’s track and field), McCann, Julie McDonald ’18 (softball), Amanda Molitor ’18 (women’s crew), Colleen O’Neill ’18 (women’s track and field), Siegenberg, Curran Sullivan ’18 (men’s lacrosse), Vansant, and Wieners.