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BAY CITY, Mich. — Former University of Findlay track and field runner John Guagenti (Bluffton, Ohio), and former Hillsdale College cross country/track and field runner Amanda Putt (Adrian, Mich./Tecumseh) were named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s (GLIAC) 2011-12 male and female “Scholar-Athletes of the Year,” respectively, as voted by the league’s faculty athletics representatives.
Guagenti posted a 3.84 grade point average (4.0) in business management and earned two GLIAC Commissioner’s Awards in his career (2011, 2012). A member of the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team during the winter and spring sports seasons, Guagenti was also named a Capital One Academic All-American and was a three-time member of the GLIAC All-Academic Team.
Guagenti was tabbed the 2011-12 USTFCCCA Midwest Region “Track Athlete of the Year” and the GLIAC Indoor “Track Athlete of the Year” after winning both the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes at the 2012 GLIAC Indoor Track & Field championships. At the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championship, Guagenti earned All-American awards in the 400-meter and 4x400-meter relay. He was then named the 2012 GLIAC Outdoor “Track Athlete of the Year”, capturing a title in the 400-meter and later went onto be named All-American in the same event at the D-II championships. Guagenti was named All-American eight times in indoor and outdoor track during his career at the NCAA Division II level.
Putt, who posted a 3.80 G.P.A (4.0)
in biology, was the NCAA D-II Midwest Regional Cross Country
champion in 2011. She placed first at the Michigan Intercollegiate
Cross Country Meet, held at Hillsdale College’s Hayden Park.
Putt finished her career with a total of six All-American honors
between cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. She was
the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Women’s cross country
“Athlete of the Year” in 2011 and finished 21st overall
at the 2011 Division II cross country championships, the highest
finish in school history for a female in a national meet.
Putt finished her career as a school record holder in both indoor and outdoor track. She set indoor records in; 800m (2:08.85), 1 mile (4:46.43), 3000m (9:51.32) and 5000m (16:30.65). Her outdoor records include the 800m, 1500m and 5000m. Amanda also broke a GLIAC record in the 1500 meter run while taking the conference title in that event. She helped led the Charger women’s track team to a 5th-place finish at the D-II indoor championships. Putt was the first female in school history to ever win three individual NCAA championships in the same school year. She won indoor national championships in the 800m and the 1-mile run and claimed the 1500m title at the championships.
“The GLIAC is very proud of the academic and athletic accomplishments of John Gugenti and Amanda Putt,” stated GLIAC Commissioner Dell Robinson. “The performance in the classroom of these two outstanding student-athletes has led them to being named to one of our top academic honors. John and Amanda are both an example of the extraordinary scholar-athletes we have in this conference.”
Both Guagenti and Putt are now in the running for the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (CCA) Regional “Scholar-Athlete of the Year” awards presented by Disney’s Wide World of Sports.