Official Website of Plattsburgh State Cardinal Athletics

June 30, 2009

Cardinals Shine in the Classroom

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y.--The Plattsburgh State Department of Athletics has released its academic awards for the spring semester.  Athletics academic coordinator Michelle St. Onge announced Tuesday that 103 Cardinals achieved a 3.0 or higher grade-point average for the term, or 43.3 percent of student-athletes representing 17 sports. In addition, for the fourth consecutive academic year, Plattsburgh student-athletes (2.85) had a higher GPA than the overall campus population (2.82).

Women's Tennis led all teams with a 3.32 GPA. On the men's side, Cross Country led the way with a 2.83 while Track & Field was a close second at 2.82.

St. Onge also announced the following individual academic award winners on campus

All-Academic First Team (Five Highest Cumulative GPAs over at least two semesters; Minimum 3.4 GPA):
 
Women
Julia Warren; Track&Field; Erin Keenan, Cross-Country/Track&Field; Emily McLaughlin, Track&Field; Kristen Casse, Tennis; Kara Imai, Softball

Men
Kevin Gent, Baseball; Alex Read, Baseball; Erik Schwind, Baseball; Mike White, Baseball; Kevin Kieper, Track&Field

All-Academic Second Team (Next 10 best Cumulative GPAs over at least two semesters; Minimum 3.1 GPA):

Women
Jen Taft, Track&Field /Cross-Country; Kaitlyn Collica, Soccer; Amy Woo, Softball; Lindsey Keyser, Soccer; Erin Florkiewicz, Softball; Amy McCasland, Track&Field; Jacquelyn Boyea, Track&Field; Shannon Neville, Soccer; Leena Peters-Uitto, Track&Field; Bri Allen, Softball

Men
Charles Berg, Track&Field; Ryan Douglas, Track&Field; Patrick Lynch, Soccer; Robert Noonan, Track&Field; Andrew Krug, Track&Field; Josh Mitchell, Track/Cross-Country; Billy Davis, Baseball; Josh Cookfair, Soccer; Dan Defrancesco, Lacrosse; Patrick Shaughnessy, Soccer/Baseball
 
Fall Semester Provost's Award
Five highest semester GPA for non-first year student; Minimum 3.4 GPA:

Women
Lauren Clark, Softball; Erin Keenan, Cross-Country/Track&Field; Shannon Neville, Soccer; Julia Warren, Track&Field; Ashley Napear, Softball

Men
Kevin Gent, Baseball; Alex Read, Baseball; Dan Defrancesco, Lacrosse; Josh Bruno, Basketball; Joshua Bushey, Track&Field

Cardinals End Up in NACDA Rankings for Fourth Straight Season

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Plattsburgh State Athletics Department has finished in 165th place with 103 points in the final Learfield Sports Directors' Cup compiled by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).  The standings are based on tournament finishes in NCAA Championships competition, and reflect the success of an institution's broad-based approach to intercollegiate athletics offerings.  There were 310 scoring schools among the 429 that are active NCAA Division III members eligible for the NACDA Directors' Cup program during 2008-09 academic year.

Williams College clinched its 11th straight title for NCAA Division III, scoring 1066.50 points after competing in 16 postseason championships.

The Cardinals scored 18 points in the fall standings after the men's cross country placed 28th in the Learfield/NACDA standings.  Both men's (60 points) and women's hockey (25) received credit for fifth place during the winter.

Plattsburgh has appeared in the NACDA rankings for four consecutive seasons, including making the top 10 percent from 2006 to 2008, after missing out the previous three years.  Last season, the Cardinals were 43rd with 355 points.

Click on the following link for the complete standings: http://www.nacda.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/D3June19   

A.D. Delventhal Featured by The NCAA News:  Amateurism issues concern ice hockey panel 

INDIANAPOLIS - The Division III Men's Ice Hockey Committee recently voiced concerns about the consistency of the application of the amateurism rules in ice hockey, and the NCAA staff is working to help improve the understanding of the legislation at the campus level. 

This is a top story on the Association's official website:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/NCAA/NCAA%20News/NCAA%20Home%20Pages/

"We want to get some standardization so we don't have different interpretations of who is eligible to play and who isn't," said Bruce Delventhal, athletics director at Plattsburgh State and chair of the Division III Men's Ice Hockey Committee.

Because of the relatively high number of international student-athletes playing men's ice hockey compared to other Division III sports, the committee is using a process that includes the Division III Interpretations and Legislative Committee. That group has recommended no rules changes but has endorsed a reformatting of the amateurism rules in the Manual so they appear in three sections – pre-enrollment, delayed enrollment and post-enrollment. These changes are not expected to appear until the 2010-11 Manual.

Also as a result of concerns in Division III ice hockey, the international and select athlete questionnaire will be revamped to include consequences of a "yes" answer to any of the questions. The staff is also working to identify resources within the Agents Gambling and Amateurism group at the national office that will help Division III schools.

Delventhal said the committee will continue to discuss this issue at future meetings.

"We just want to try to create an avenue to make sure everybody is getting the same justifications," he said.

The committee also began to discuss including competition against Division II teams in the championship selection process. Currently, Division III teams are allowed to play Division II teams, but the games do not count toward championship selection. Delventhal said the committee is concerned that without promoting competition between the two divisions, the Division II teams could drop the sport. The NCAA does not sponsor a Division II men's ice hockey championship.

"We'd like to allow those games to count. We think that would be positive on both sides," Delventhal said. "We don’t want to lose participation in college sports. I think all of us in athletics don't want to lose participation, and I think the NCAA doesn't want to see more schools dropping ice hockey, so here's a great way to help those programs."

In other business, the committee:

Proposed to allow more than 21 players on the ice during practice at the championship. Delventhal said this decision was "common sense" and fit with the Division III philosophy that emphasizes participation.

Recommended that Lake Placid, New York, be designated as the site for the 2010 Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship and that Minneapolis be the site in 2011.

--Courtesy of The NCAA News.  Click on the following link to view the original source:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/ncaa/ncaa+news/ncaa+news+online/2009/division+iii/amateurism+issues+concern+ice+hockey+panel_06_16_09_ncaa_news 

Two Student-Athletes, Staff Member Cited      

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - The women's basketball team senior co-captains Megan Lynch and Vanessa Arthurton, as well as assistant athletic trainer Cassie Franklin, were recently announced as spring semester winners for the SUNY Plattsburgh Division of Student Affairs Vision Award.  The College's Vice President’s Cabinet made the selections.  The criteria of the award is that the nominee assists the Division in reaching its mission by exemplifying one or more of its core values.  Nominees could be an individual (faculty, staff, student, community member), group (club, organization, society, team), or office from either within or outside the Division.  Framed certificates were given to all honorees.

Lynch (Duanesburg/Guilderland High School) and Arthurton (Troy HS) each received recognition for the challenge core value, and the duo was nominated by Athletics Director Bruce Delventhal.  They helped the Cardinals this season to their best record in six seasons and first postseason berth since 2005.  They never gave up on their teammates and stuck with the program despite missing out on the playoffs during their first three years together.  They continued to meet the challenge of competition every season.  They showed their teammates the true meaning of leadership and commitment with tireless work ethic in the weight room, hours of community service, academic progress toward a degree and great hustle on the court of play.  Moreover, they established a new "winning, can-do" culture for returners for next season and recruiting classes to come.  They were rewarded in the end for their perseverance and integrity for four years of hard work.   

Franklin is in her first year as a member of the Cardinals sports medicine staff, primarily responsible for the sports of women's soccer, women's ice hockey, baseball and track&field.  Previously, she worked at Elmira College and the Elmira Jackels professional hockey club after earning a bachelor's degree in athletic training from the University of Northern Iowa.

"Her professionalism is outstanding, and she's a fantastic trainer," said Plattsburgh women's soccer coach Karen Waterbury, who nominated Cassie for the Caring category.  "It's great that she's part of our coaching staff and team, and I think she's very deserving."

Head athletic trainer Jason Pachter added:  "Cassie has gone above and beyond what it takes to be an athletic trainer at SUNY Plattsburgh.  She works hard and is always striving to learn more.  She is passionate about her job, which relates to how much she cares for the athletes, the College and athletic training as a profession.  When called for, Cassie is empathetic to the injured athletes and does everything she can to get them to return to playing their sport."

Woo, San Filippo Named Top Athletes for 2008-09 

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y.  - Junior infielder Amy Woo and senior men's soccer goalkeeper John San Filippo have been named the topped student-athletes at Plattsburgh State for the 2008-09 academic year, according to balloting by the athletic department's 12 head coaches and three administrators. They were honored this week at the Senior Recognition and Academic Awards Luncheon in the Warren Ballrooms in the Angell College Center on the College campus.  Here's a synopsis of the year-end award winners:  

Female Athlete of the Year
Amy Woo, of Calgary, Alberta (Queen Elizabeth Secondary School), is the first softball player to win the honor since the award was established in 1983 and breaks a three-year run by the hockey team (Jenn Clarke in 2006 and Danielle Blanchard in 2007 and '08).  Woo is bidding to repeat as a NFCA All-American when she hit .400, slugged six home runs, scored 42 times, had 30 runs batted in and stole 19 bases during her sophomore season. Currently, the two-time all-conference selection is batting .328 with four homers, 21 RBI and a .546 slugging percentage.

Male Athlete of the Year
John San Filippo (Levittown/Division HS) was voted the 2008 State University of New York Athletic Conference Player of the Year in men's soccer last fall, becoming the fifth Cardinal in program history to earn the Huntley Parker award. San Filippo became the school career leader for consecutive shutout minutes (1,234, which is second-best in NCAA Division III history), goals-against average (0.43), shutouts (31) and minutes (5,000). A three-time all-conference first team selection, he led the SUNYAC this season with a 0.55 GAA, 10 shutouts and ranked third with an .821 save percentage while earning first-team all-region.

Female Senior Achievement
A senior center from Newmarket, Ontario, Danielle Blanchard captained the women's hockey team to two national championships in 2007 and '08. She is the only four-year All-American in any Plattsburgh sport, and was voted the 2008 NCAA III Player of the Year after she scored 28 goals and 48 points. Her 177 career points (87 goals, 90 assists) is second all-time in school history. She owns or shares school benchmarks for games played in a season (30 in 2006), game-winning goals in a season (7 in 2006) and career game-winning goals (20).  A four-time all-conference selection, she posted 14 goals and 23 assists for 37 points this season.

Male Senior Achievement
Nick Rolls (Marysville, Mich.) is a senior defenseman on the hockey team, which he served as a three-year team captain.  He played on two SUNYAC championships and in two NCAA tournaments, including the 2008 national finals game.  Rolls twice earned All-America status: 2nd Team USCHO.com as a junior and 1st Team AHCA this season, when he scored five goals and 24 assists for 29 points.  A three-time All-SUNYAC first team choice, he was one of the most dynamic blueliners in the conference during his career. His 107 points (33g-74a) ranks 46th in school history and seventh among defensemen.

Chi Alpha Sigma Inductees
The following Cardinal student-athletes comprised this year's class in a honor society to recognize college students who balance excellence in athletics and academics: Josh Colligan (Baseball), Maria Towle (Cross Country/Track&Field), Lauren Clark (Softball), Ashley Napear (Softball), Amy Woo (Softball), Shannon Neville (Soccer), Liz Radigan (Soccer), Emily Riley (Soccer), Morgan Dupell (Tennis) and Emily McLaughlin (Track&Field).

Click here for photos .