BAY CITY, Mich. -- The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) announced the recipients of the Spring 2008 GLIAC Commissioner's Awards. The awards, sponsored by Meijer, Incorporated, are presented after the Fall, Winter, and Spring athletic seasons to six male and six female student-athletes that excel both in the classroom and on the fields of play.
The six female student-athletes to receive the Spring 2008 GLIAC Commissioner's Awards are: Pamela Bullock of the University of Findlay; Stephanie Cole of Grand Valley State University; Becky Hoffman and Katie Kraai of Ferris State University; Andrea Metz of Michigan Technological University; and Lindsey Perry of Wayne State University.
The six male student-athletes to receive the Spring 2008 GLIAC Commissioner's Awards are: Eric Atsma of Findlay; Matthew Cunningham and Brett Witczak of Wayne State; Derek Hinke of Grand Valley State; Joe Luli of Mercyhurst College; and Timothy Sayers of Hillsdale College.
"These 12 student-athletes exemplify what collegiate athletics is all about," stated GLIAC Commissioner Tom Brown. "Our conference, along with Meijer Incorporated, feel that it is important to recognize these hard working student-athletes for their outstanding performances in the classroom and on the field of play. The GLIAC would like to thank Meijer for their generous sponsorship of the 2008 Commissioner's Awards and for helping us acknowledge the exceptional accomplishments of this group."
The following are biographies of the Spring 2008 GLIAC Commissioner's Awards recipients:
Pamela Bullock has had a distinguished career for the Findlay Women's Track & Field teams, winning 14 conference titles during her tenure as an Oiler. During her senior campaign while working on her master's degree in education, Bullock earned All-American status in the 100-meter dash and won four events at the 2008 GLIAC Outdoor championships by taking first in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 4 x 100-meter relay and 4 x 400-meter relay. During the indoor season, she captured All-American honors in the 200-meter dash and 4 x 400-meter relay, while walking away with conference titles in the 55-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 4 x 400-meter relay. Overall, she has been named All-American five times during her career.
As a senior with a biomedical science major, Stephanie Cole led Grand Valley State with 13 wins on the season, finishing with a record of 13-6. She compiled a team-leading earned run average of 1.83 with 75 strikeouts. In 126.1 innings pitched, she gave up 99 hits and 45 runs, with 33 of the runs earned. She pitched 14 complete games with seven shutouts. She also recorded two saves on the season, while holding opposing batters to an average of .208. Cole was a First Team All-GLIAC selection following the 2008 season. Cole ranked 72nd in Division II in earned run average and 55th in saves. She also finished the season 16th in walks allowed per seven innings with 0.89. She earned ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District IV honors in both 2006 and 2007. She was also an All-GLIAC Second Team selection in her sophomore season in 2006.
Becky Hoffman, a senior on the FSU women's golf team, is a social work major. The 2007-08 GLIAC Women's Golf Athlete of the Year, is a two-time (2007 and 2008) ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America Second-Team selection and a three-time (2004-05, 2006-07, and 2007-08) National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) Division II All-America Honorable Mention honoree. She averaged a team-best 77.81 strokes per round (2,490 total strokes) in 32 rounds this season and the four-time (2004-08) All-GLIAC First-Team pick earned individual medalist honors at the 2008 GLIAC Championships after claiming a playoff win. The two-time (2006-07 and 2007-08) FSU MVP concluded her four-year career as the program's all-time leader with a 78.31 career stroke average (9,240 total strokes) in 118 rounds. She led Ferris State to a fourth-place national showing at the 2008 NCAA-II Women's Golf Championships.
Katie Kraai, a senior on the FSU softball team and a nursing major, earned 2008 All-GLIAC First-Team accolades. She is a two-time (2005 and 2007) National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Scholar-Athlete and earned 2008 ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District IV Softball First-Team plaudits. A three-time (2006-08) GLIAC All-Academic Team pick, Kraai was the recipient of FSU's 22nd annual Helen Bennett Award for the Bulldogs' most outstanding female student-athlete. Kraai, the school's all-time leader with 49 career doubles in 202 games, helped lead Ferris State to a share of the conference regular-season championship title and a national tourney fifth-place tying finish.
Andrea Metz, a senior majoring in chemical engineering Michigan Tech, won the 1,500-meter run at the 2008 GLIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships in a school record time of 4:38.33. Her time also provisionally qualified her for the NCAA Track and Field Championships. The Marathon, Wis., native also ranks fifth in school history in the 3,000-meter run (10:31.20) and eighth in the 5,000-meter run (18:35.86). She is eligible for selection to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Team after being selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team for cross country and track and field. The three-time All-GLIAC Academic selection was named most improved on the Michigan Tech women's track and field team in 2008.
Lindsey Perry is a senior nursing major and first baseman for Wayne State. She earned her third consecutive GLIAC All-Academic team selection in 2008, and was a CoSIDA Academic All-District Second Team honoree. On the field, she was one of three players to start all 53 games for WSU in 2008 and was voted to the All-GLIAC Second Team. In addition, she was selected to the NCAA Great Lakes Region All-Tournament team. Perry earned the WSU Athletics Deans' Award for having highest cumulative grade point average of any student-athlete in the College of Nursing. She finished her collegiate career ranked high in many WSU all-time categories: third in home runs (20) and fielding putouts (979), fourth in slugging percentage (.512) and fielding percentage (.985), sixth in runs scored (123) and doubles (40), eighth in total bases (311), and ninth in hits (199) and RBI (100).
Eric Atsma, a senior on the Findlay men's golf team, was named first team All-GLIAC in 2008 for the fourth year in a row. The 2005 GLIAC Freshman of the Year, Atsma was named first team All-Great Lakes Region in 2006 and 2007, and has been named to the GLIAC All-Academic team three times during his career. Atsma tied the school record for lowest 18-hole score with a 67 at the Ferris State Invitational in 2005, and then tied the school record for lowest 54-hole score with a 217 at the 2007 Super Regional. The operations and logistics major finished his career with the second lowest scoring average ever at UF after coming in at 74.09.
Matthew Cunningham, a senior
catcher for the Warriors, garnered his fourth career GLIAC
All-Academic Team award in 2008. Having already earned his
bachelor's degree in public relations, Cunningham is currently
pursuing a master's degree in sports administration. This past
season, Cunningham played in 45 games, batted .265 and set
career-highs in at bats (132), runs scored (21), runs batted in
(18), walks (21), total bases (43) and sacrifice hits (6) while
serving as team captain for the second straight year. He completed
his WSU playing career tied for sixth all-time in games played
(178), tied for fourth in sacrifice hits (17), fifth in fielding
chances (864), sixth in putouts (762), and eighth in fielding
percentage (.979) in the annals of Wayne State baseball.
Senior second baseman Brett Witczak earned a GLIAC All-Academic Team selection in his first year of eligibility, having spent two years at Eastern Michigan prior to his arrival at WSU in 2007. An ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District IV College Division Second Team honoree in 2008, Witczak is a social studies education major. He started 52 games at second base this season and batted .320 with 29 RBI and 23 runs scored while finishing second on the team with 19 multiple-hit games. Witczak was named to the All-GLIAC First Team in 2008 after taking Second Team honors a year ago.
Derek Hinke, a senior outfielder on the GVSU baseball team and statistics major, finished the 2008 season batting .391, which was second on the team. He was also the only Laker to start and play in every game this season. Hinke recorded 192 at-bats, scoring 45 runs and knocking in a team-leading 53 more. He hit six home runs on the season, a team-best, and slugged .599 with 18 doubles and two triples. Hinke walked 15 times and struck out just 21 to finish with an on-base percentage of .430. Hinke earned numerous awards during the 2008 season. He was a First Team All-GLIAC selection, as well as an Academic All-GLIAC honoree. He was also named to the Daktronics North Central Region First Team and the 2008 First Team District IV ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American. Hinke ranked in the top 100 in Division II in doubles per game (46th), doubles (81st) and runs batted in per game (67th).
A senior business major and outfielder on the Mercyhurst baseball team, Joe Luli batted a career-high .364 in 2008, despite being limited to 37 games due to injury. He led the Lakers with five home runs and 31 runs-batted-in, while being named second team All-GLIAC in his senior campaign. He finished his career ranked sixth in school history with 120 runs-batted-in, and seventh in home runs with 14. After missing 15 games in the middle of the season, he returned to bat .439 over the final 19 games with four homers and 23 RBI, slugging .719 and posting at least one hit in 18 of those games. He completed his career as a three-time All-GLIAC selection (one first team award and two second team awards) and was a Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-America selection in 2007.
Timothy Sayers, a senior speech major on the Hillsdale men's track & field and cross country teams, had a standout 2008 season. Sayers was a national qualifier in the steeplechase event, the first time he's qualified for the NCAA Championships. His time of 9:14.29 was good for 12th overall in the nation in the event entering the national meet. Sayers was elected team captain in all three sports in which he competed, a testament to the respect he earned from a wide variety of teammates. He was named All-GLIAC in four different events in the three different sports, spanning all four years of his college career. In the classroom, Tim earned Academic All-American honors six times in his career, and was named to the GLIAC's All-Academic team in each year of eligibility in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. In the community, he spent much time working Hillsdale-area youth in organizations such as the Free Methodist Church, where he served as a group leader and mentor to boys in junior high and high school.