Posted: Jun 02, 2016

Blazers Pace NECC With 41 Academic All-Conference Selections

ATTLEBORO, Mass. – Elms College placed 41 student-athletes on the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Academic All-Conference honor roll, announced by the conference office Wednesday. A total of 187 student-athletes have been named to the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Academic All-Conference team for the 2016 spring semester. To be eligible for the NECC Academic All-Conference, a student‐athlete must be a sophomore or higher in class standing and must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.4 on a 4.0 scale. Sports included on the team are Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Lacrosse, Softball, Men's Tennis and Men's Volleyball.

For three straight semesters, the Blazers finished atop the NECC in Academic All-Conference selections with a total of 41 student-athletes earning accolades for their efforts in the classroom. Baseball led the way with 10 student-athletes claiming academic honors, including seniors Kyle Bartlett (Huntington, Mass.), Peter Gilbert (Easthampton, Mass.), Nolan Medeiros (Taunton, Mass.), Andrew Sadowski (Northampton, Mass.), Derron Simpson (Hempstead, N.Y.), and Tom Weldon (Springfield, Mass.); juniors Anthony Garde (Westfield, Mass.), Stephen Harrison (Southbury, Conn.), and Brian Hungerford (New Preston, Conn.); and sophomore Dan Brunetti (Enfield, Conn.).

Women's Lacrosse notched nine representatives on the Academic All-Conference list in graduate Danielle Jez (Westfield, Mass.); seniors Emily Brown (Agawam, Mass.), Ashley Cava (Wilbraham, Mass.), Jillian Pirog (Ludlow, Mass.), and Kieran Ramsey (Easthampton, Mass.); junior Sabrina Pereira (South Windsor, Conn.); and sophomores Madison Crawford (Bennington, Vt.), Lindsey McNiff (Kingston, Mass.), and Jackie Soucia (Belchertown, Mass.). Men's Volleyball tallied eight Academic All-Conference selections in seniors Roger Conklin (Chicopee, Mass.) and Jamaal Gary (Bloomfield, Conn.); juniors Qua'Sean Crowe (Stamford, Conn.) and Austin DeCosmo (Southwick, Mass.); and sophomores Daniel Bondarovsky (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Gabriel Reis Levy (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), and D.J. Sherman (Winstead, Conn.).

Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball and Softball all had five members take home honors. For Men's Basketball, senior Kadar Lynch (Springfield, Mass.) was joined by juniors Trifon Bish (St. Catherine, Jamaica), Conny Ihearahu (Largo, Md.), Dimitri Tessier (Brockton, Mass.), along with sophomore Keeshaun King (Jacksonville, Fla.). For Women's Basketball, seniors Mariah Brown (Windsor Locks, Conn.) and Maira Pantoja (East Windsor, Conn.); juniors Heather Bailey (Williamstown, Vt.) and Alexandra Marques (Newington, Conn.); and sophomore Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) earned honors. For Softball, seniors Samantha Alvino (Holtsville, N.Y.), Kierstan Skinner (South Windsor, Conn.) and Taylor Skinner (South Windsor, Conn.), along with junior Meghan Shewchuk (Springfield, Mass.) and sophomore Elizabeth Olszewski (Canterbury, Conn.) received academic honors.