Hamalian earns first men's track and field sport excellence honor

EASTON, Mass. (April 6, 2017) – Stonehill College has placed three of its winter student-athletes on the Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference teams for their performances on the field of play as well as the classroom.

Hamalian

McAdams

Palmer

Stonehill's three student-athletes are the ninth highest in the conference for the fall programs, as Bentley University and Southern Connecticut State University has nine spread throughout the teams. Two Stonehill student-athletes are making their second appearance on the Academic All-Conference teams including men's track and field junior Mark Hamalian (West Bridgewater, Massachusetts/Bridgewater-Raynham) and women's track and field senior Aisha McAdams (North Kingstown, Rhode Island). Hamalian was also chosen as a Sport-Excellence Award winner, as the first men's track and field student-athlete from Stonehill to be chosen.  Men's ice hockey sophomore goaltender Billy Palmer (Cranston, Rhode Island/Bishop Hendricken) was the third Skyhawk to appear on the list for his first recognition.

To be eligible for selection to the NE10 Academic All-Conference Teams a student-athlete must have met or exceeded the following minimum requirements: participated in at least half of the team's competitions and been either a starter or significant contributor, achieved a 3.30 cumulative grade point average, and completed at least one academic year at his/her institution. 

Throughout the winter, Stonehill athletics saw four of its five winter programs participate in postseason play, led by the women's indoor track and field team being crowned its fourth-straight NE10 championship title. Women's basketball reached the first round of the NE10 Tournament, as it fell to Southern Connecticut, 62-60. Men's indoor track and field placed fourth at the championship meet in February and men's ice hockey finished third in the conference after being defeated by Saint Michael's College, 4-1, in semifinal action.

Mark Hamalian, who majors in physics and holds a 3.95 grade point average, is receiving his second NE10 Academic All-Conference recognition. He has been named to the NE10 Commissioner's Honor Roll for four semesters and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for two semesters. The junior also picked up the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award as a sophomore, as well as being the recipient of the St. Thomas Acquinas Medal, or having the highest GPA on the team. A native of West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Hamalian received USTFCCCA All-East Region Honors in the heptathlon this year and last.

The junior finished the indoor season with performances at the NE10 Championship and the NEICAAA Championship. This year, he posted career-bests in the 1000m run with a time of 3:01.37, the high jump with a mark of 1.87m, the shot put with a distance of 10.16m and the heptathlon with a total of 4472 points. Hamalian finished in the top-10 in 21 of his 24 events competed in this year, while earning the title in the long jump and pole vault at the Tufts Stampede in January.

McAdams, another repeat NE10 Academic All-Conference member, averages a 3.62 grade point average while majoring in communications and visual performance arts. The senior has been named to the NE10 Commissioner's Honor Roll for six semesters and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for four semesters. The North Kingstown, Rhode Island native received the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award and Lambda Pi Eta Member Division II honor as a junior. She also was named All-New England in the 3000m and DMR during indoor season last year, All-Conference in the indoor mile and NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field All-Region Honors in the mile, 3000m, and DMR as a junior. Her sophomore year, McAdams was named All-New England (indoor 4x800m), NE10 Champion (indoor 3000m, 4x800m) and All-Conference (3000m, 4x800m).

This year, the senior clocked in her personal best in the 1000m race with a time of 3:00.55 at the NE10 Championship, placing third overall. McAdams recorded four top-10 finishes out of seven races this season, including two first-place marks at the NE10 Championship for the 4x800m and at the NEICAAA in the DMR.

Palmer, who has earned a 3.67 cumulative grade point average as a marketing major, earned his first NE10 Academic All-Conference honor. As a sophomore, Palmer has been named to the NE10 Commissioner's Honor Roll and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for one semester. Last season, the Cranston, Rhode Island native was selected to the NE10 All-Conference second team during the programs' second NE10 Championship. He was also tabbed the NE10 Rookie of the Year after leading the conference in save percentage (.918) and winning percentage (.639) and ranking second in goals against average (2.81).

This year, Palmer finished fourth in the NE10 in goals against average (3.26), save percentage (.912) and winning percentage (.423). The sophomore was tabbed NE10 Goaltender of the Week in January and recorded his first-collegiate shutout against Southern New Hampshire University, 8-0, in February for the Skyhawks' final regular season game of the year. Palmer now has a career record of 19-17-7.      

With 21 intercollegiate sports, after announcing the addition of women's golf for the 2017-18 academic year, Stonehill boasts one of the top athletic and academic programs in the country. While finishing in the top three of the NE10 Presidents' Cup standings for overall athletic performance 12 straight years, the Skyhawks have received the NCAA Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Achievement each of the first six years of the program's existence of honoring institutions with an Academic Success Rate (ASR) of 90-percent or better. Stonehill has earned a 96% Academic Success Ranking (ASR) by the NCAA three straight years, which considers the academic success rate of the institution based on the graduation rate of student-athletes, good for sixth among all NCAA Division II institutions, with 11 Skyhawk teams receiving a perfect rating of 100%. In addition, the Skyhawks are ranked third in the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA) Power Rankings for Division II used to assess the academic and athletic standards of all NCAA and NAIA athletic programs.

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