Palmer earned his third NE10 Academic All-Conference honor and second Sport Excellence Award
Palmer |
Demeule |
Dowd |
Vercollone |
Lastra |
Fernandes |
Perry |
NE10 Announces Winter Academic All-Conference Teams
EASTON, Mass. (May 16, 2019) – Stonehill College has placed 11 of its fall student-athletes on the Northeast-10 Conference Academic All-Conference teams for their performances on the field of play as well as the classroom, the league announced.
Stonehill's 7 student-athletes was the second highest in the Conference for the winter programs spreading out over the seven winter teams, as Merrimack College had 10 recognized for the second highest. Bentley University was third among the institutions with nine honored, while Southern New Hampshire University followed in fourth with seven, and Adelphi University and Southern Connecticut State University each saw six on the teams.
Among the Skyhawks' seven included men's ice hockey senior Billy Palmer who received his second NE10 Scholar-Sport Excellence Award, men's track & field seniors Alex Demeule, Riley Dowd, and Stephen Vercollone, women's track & field seniors Krista Fernandes, Colleen Perry, and Anna Lastra.
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. A graphic design and marketing major with a 3.74 GPA, Palmer received his third NE10 Academic All-Conference Award as he is the first three-time honoree for men's ice hockey. He was also recognized as the Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence award winner for the sport for the second-straight year. He is the second two-time honoree as Dana Borges won the award in 2012 and 2013. Palmer played in 17 of the 26 games this season averaging a 3.56 goals against mark with 58 goals against. He notched 523 saves for a .900 save percentage and a 5-12-0 overall record. The senior goaltender ended the season ranked in the NE10, fifth in games played, goals against, saves, and save percentage and sixth in goals against average. In a 3-2 victory against Saint Anselm College in early February, the senior became the leader in career saves in the Conference recording a career high 57 saves in the game. He wrapped up his career with a total of 2560 saves. He has also been named an AHCA All American Scholar and two Division II ADA Academic Achievement Awards.
A finance major with a 3.82 cumulative GPA, Demeule has totaled seven NE10 Academic All-Conference honors over his four years at Stonehill and was most recently named the 2018 NE10 Sport Excellence Award Winner for cross country. This indoor season, Demeule collected a NE10 All-Conference honor and All-New England recognition for the 4000-meter distance medley relay. The quartet collected the program's first title in the event at the New England Championships in February with a provisional qualifying time of 9:53.89, to mark the eighth-straight year the relay has earned All-New England honors. This was the second-straight year that the 4000-meter distance medley relay team has qualified and competed at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships. The senior earned his first-career All-America recognition with the DMR last year as the quartet finished fifth place. This season Demeule ran the 1200-meter lead leg as the quartet finished 12th at the Championships. The Merrimac, Massachusetts native has collected two CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District first team honors and one CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-America third team recognition. The senior has earned three U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Team honors and one Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award. Demeule has also been tabbed on the NE10 Academic Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll multiple times, while also being recognized by the college as a Lambda Epsilon Sigma and Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society member.
Majoring in economics and earning a 3.79 grade-point average, Dowd collects his fifth Academic All-Conference recognition. During the indoor season, the senior assisted the Skyhawks to a third-place finish at the NE10 Indoor Track & Field Championships, held at Smith College. He competed in the mile where he finished 10th overall. The week before, he competed at the New England Championships where he placed 20th. The Peabody, Massachusetts native was recognized on the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team twice, while he earned his first CoSIDA Google Cloud All-District first team honor his junior year. At Stonehill, Dowd is an Edwin H. Sutherland Criminology and Omicron Delta Epsilon honor society member and has been named to the Athletic Director's and NE10 Academic Honor Roll multiple times.
Vercollone, who will graduate with a degree in marketing and graphic design while earning a 3.48 grade-point average, collects his first-career NE10 Academic All-Conference recognition this winter. The senior qualified for his second NCAA Division II Championship, where he competed in both the 800-meter run and 4000-meter distance medley relay. He tallied two All-New England titles and recognitions with the DMR and 4x800-meter relay, while also running an All-Conference second-place finish in the 800-meter run at the NE10 Championships in late February. Over the course of his career, he has tallied 10 NE10 All-Conference and 12 All-New England honors. He has also earned six USTFCCCA All-East Region honors, including receiving two for the indoor season for the 800-meter run and the DMR.
Lastra, with her 3.83 grade point average in the classroom as she studies health science, collects her fourth Academic All-Conference honor. At the NE10 Indoor Championships, Lastra assisted the women's team to their sixth-straight Indoor Championship, as she was part of the first place 4000-meter distance medley and 4x800-meter relay teams. She was also the runner-up in the mile run. This was her third year assisting the DMR to a provisional time making the performance list for the NCAA Division II Indoor performance list. She has combined for 12 NE10 All-Conference honors, four All-New England honors, and nine NCAA Division II All-East Region team recognitions. She has been named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team three times and earned the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award, while also being named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll multiple times.
Fernandes has also tallied her fourth Academic All-Conference honor, with two from indoor and two from the outdoor season, as she will graduate with a degree in psychology earning a 3.81 grade-point average. The senior assisted the DMR to its third-straight provisional qualifying time this indoor season, while taking NE10 titles in the 400-meter run and the DMR. Fernandes collected a third NE10 All-Conference honor with the 4x400-meter relay team to bring her career total to 11 All-Conference honors and four All-New England recognitions. During the indoor season, she totaled three USTFCCCA All-East Region honors, to bring that total to nine over her four-year career in the Purple & White. Fernandes is a member of Stonehill College's Lambda Epsilon Sigma and Psi Chi Honor Societies, while also earned two Division II ADA Academic Achievement Awards.
Along with Vercollone, Perry picks up her first NE10 Academic All-Conference honor, as she will graduate with a degree in elementary education and American studies earning a 3.71 GPA. Perry collected her second NE10 All-Conference honor after taking home her second runner up mark in the pentathlon at the NE10 Indoor Championships in February. With her second place finish at the NE10 Championships, the senior also broke her own school record totaling 3,143 points. Through her career, she has also been named to the NE10 Academic and Athletic Director's Honor Rolls, received two USTFCCCA All-East Region honors, and two Division II ADA Academic Achievement Awards.
With 21 intercollegiate sports, Stonehill boasts one of the top athletic and academic programs in the country. In addition to finishing in the top three of the Northeast-10 Conference Presidents' Cup standings for overall athletic performance 14 straight years, the Skyhawks have received the NCAA Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Achievement each of the first eight 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, which considers the academic success rate of the institution based on the graduation rate of student-athletes, good for seventh among all NCAA Division II institutions, with eight Skyhawk teams receiving a perfect rating of 100%. In addition, the Skyhawks are ranked 11th 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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