Women's Track and Field Leads The Way With Three Honorees
NE10 Honors 130 Spring Student-Athletes with Academic All-Conference recognition
EASTON, Mass. (June 24, 2022) – For the second Stonehill College has placed nine of its spring student-athletes on the Northeast-10 Conference's Academic All-Conference teams for their performances on the field of play as well as in the classroom, the league announced.
To be eligible for selection to NE10 Academic All-Conference teams, a student-athlete must have met or exceeded the following minimum requirements: Started in at least half or played in at least two-thirds of the team's competitions as a significant contributor and achieved a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) or better on a 4.0 scale.
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Erhard |
Lightbody |
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Mason |
Braz |
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McNamee |
Rudden |
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Butler |
Kiely |
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Ormesher |
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Leading the way for Stonehill on the NE10 Academic All-Conference Team is women's track with College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District® First Team representatives Rebecca Erhard, Haley Lightbody, and Claire Mason). Men's track and field and women's lacrosse also had multiple student-athletes with two from their respective teams. For men's track and field, CoSIDA Academic All-District® First Team honorees Shane Braz and Nickolas McNamee, and representing women's lacrosse are Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) All-Americans Lydia Rudden and Victoria Butler. Programs that had one representative included baseball's Conor Kiely and women's tennis's Samantha Ormesher.
Erhard earlier this winter, earned her first NE10 Scholar-Athlete for Sports Excellence award this past winter. Erhard assisted Stonehill to a third-place finish at the NE10 Outdoor Track & Field Championships this spring, where she took home seventh in the 5k with a time of 18:24.12 (personal record) and fourth in the 10k at 38:11.40 (personal record). Her times in the 5k and 10k were one of the 10 fastest in the NE10 (seventh in the 5k and fourth in the 10k). Erhard has garnered plenty of other honors in her Stonehill career including NE10 Academic Honor Roll (five times), Athletic Director's honor roll (two times), Dean's List (two times), and received the DII ADA Academic Achievement Award.
Lightbody highlighted her junior year with USTFCCCA All-East Region honors, bringing her career total to two. She took home first place in the pole vault at the NE10 Indoor Track and Field Championships for the second time in her career with a leap of 10' 8' (3.25m) as the team finished fourth overall. During the outdoor season, Lightbody earned her third All-Conference honor after finishing third in the pole vault at 10'6" (3.21m) as the team came in third at the meet. Lightbody has also earned numerous other awards during her time with the purple and white including USTFCCCA All-Academic Team, All-New England, NE10 Field Rookie of the Year, NE10 Rookie of the Week (three times), and was the NE10 Rookie of the Year.
Mason earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors for not only her strong grades but her strong performance during the cross country season. Mason ran a career-best 22:57.1 (29th place) on the 6k course at the NCAA Division II East Region Cross Country Championships for her fourth top-30 finish of the year. During the outdoor track season, Mason mostly ran in the 800-meter and notched top-five finishes in five out of the six meets she competed in including a season-best time of 2:19.12 for a fourth-place finish at the Holy Cross Invitational. Her strong time was the fifth-fastest time in the entire NE10. In her time with Stonehill, Mason has also earned the following: NE10 Academic Honor Roll (four times), Dean's List (twice), Athletic Director's Honor Roll, USTFCCCA All-East Region Team (DMR), NE10 All-Conference (twice), and is a Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award recipient.
This past indoor and outdoor track and field season for Braz, he notched multiple top-15 finishes including a 12th place finish (16:08.96) in the 5k at the NE10 Indoor Track and Field Championships and then a season-best second-place finish at the 2022 Holy Cross Invitational in the 10k (32:35.01). His time at the Holy Cross Invitational was also a top-10 (ninth) time in the entire conference during the outdoor season. Overall in his career, Braz has earned numerous awards as a member of the Skyhawks including, NE10 Academic Honor Roll (three times), Academic All-NE10, U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-East Region (twice), and being named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
During the indoor and outdoor track season, McNamee earned All-New England honors for the fourth time in his career after finishing eighth (4:23.97) in the mile at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Indoor Track & Field Championships. At the NE10 Outdoor Track and Field Championships, McNamee set a new personal record in the 1500-meter when he crossed the finish line in fourth place with a time of 3:55.12. His time ended up being the eighth fastest in the NE10. He finishes his time at Stonehill as a six-time All-NE10 and three-time All-New England performer. Overall, McNamee is a three-time NE10 Academic All-Conference selection, earning the honors for both cross country and indoor/outdoor track & field, while also collecting All-Academic honors from the USTFCCCA twice as well. McNamee also has been named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll, receiving Academic Distinction status for seven semesters for having a GPA between 3.50 and 3.99, while being named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for seven semesters as well.
Rudden is coming off a record-breaking season for the Stonehill women's lacrosse program to earn All-America first team and All-East Region first team honors from the IWLCA. She was also selected as the NE10 Attack of the Year and earned a spot on the All-NE10 first team. Rudden led the NE10 in scoring with her program-record 119 points (2nd nationally) and assists with a program record and Division II-leading 77, while her 42 goals are fifth on the team and 14th among NE10 leaders. The four-time NE10 Player of the Week and two-time IWLCA Division II Offensive Player of the Week posted just the third 100-point season in Stonehill history, leading the Conference in scoring by 27 points and assists by 31.In her career, Rudden, was a NE10 Academic All-Conference selection as a sophomore, a two-time St. Thomas Aquinas, Patron Saint of Students, Medal (highest team GPA). She has also been named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll every semester and received the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award.
Butler, an All-NE10 first team selection, earns All-East Region honors from the IWLCA for the first time. She spearheads a Stonehill defense that ranks fifth in the NE10 for scoring defense (11.11 goals per game) and fourth in caused turnovers per game (11.1), while leading the Conference and ranking third nationally with 18.5 draw controls per game and 19.8 ground balls per game. Butler is third on the team with 79 draw controls (10th NE10), which ranks seventh on Stonehill's all-time single-season list, while ranking second on the team with 46 ground balls (5th) and 24 caused turnovers. She has contributed on the offensive end with 15 goals and three assists for 18 points in 19 games played. Throughout her career, Butler has been named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll every semester.
Kiely had yet another solid season for the Skyhawks as he set career high's in hits (48) and runs scored (34). Overall, he finished with a .293 batting average, recorded six doubles and two triples, drove in 15 RBIs, drew 10 walks, posted an on-base percentage of .371, and slugged .354. During the year, he had 15 multi-hit games and went on a 14-game hit streak from April 10-May 5. Kiely posted another year of having double-digit steals (10) which led the team on the season. In the outfield, the junior had a career-high in putouts (74) with zero errors to have his second-ever perfect fielding percentage (1.000). Throughout his career, Kiely is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District® First Team member, has been named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll, and has been placed on the NE10 Academic Honor Roll multiple times.
Ormesher earned NE10 Academic All-Conference honors for the third-straight year. She was recognized with the College's Saint Thomas Aquinas, Patron Saint of Students, Medal for having the highest cumulative GPA on the women's tennis team. She finishes her Stonehill career as a five-time All-NE10 performer is a two-time Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division II Scholar-Athlete that has been named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll all eight semesters at the College to date. This past spring, Ormesher finished the season with a 5-5 singles record including a stretch where she won three matches in a row against Assumption, Southern New Hampshire, and Bentley. In doubles, she posted a 5-3 record which featured a four-match win streak versus American International College, Assumption University, Southern New Hampshire, and Bentley.
With 23 intercollegiate sports when women's ice hockey takes to the ice for the first time in 2022-23, Stonehill boasts one of the top athletic and academic programs in the country. A charter member of the NCAA Division II Northeast-10 Conference since 1980, the College announced that the athletic department will begin a transition to NCAA Division I as a member of the Northeast Conference on July 1 for the 2022-23 academic year. Stonehill has won the NE10 Presidents' Cup six times, all coming within the last 15 years. The Skyhawks have received the NCAA Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Achievement each of the first ten years of the program's existence of honoring institutions with an Academic Success Rate (ASR) of 90-percent or better. The Skyhawks' 92-percent ASR for the cohort period of 2011-2014 ranks fifth among NE10 members and 20th nationally among 303 NCAA Division II member institutions, with seven program's earning perfect ASR scores of 100%. The College ranks No. 98 in the category of National Liberal Arts Schools by U.S. News & World Report and No. 94 for the Best Value category.
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