Southeast sets school record for academic awards

~ Southeast landed 107 student-athletes on the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll.

The Southeast Missouri State men's cross country team captured the Ohio Valley Conference's Team Academic Achievement Award for having the highest percentage of its student-athletes named to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll in 2006-07.

That was among the honors released Wednesday by the conference in its annual academic awards.

Southeast Missouri State had 24 OVC Medals of Honor -- given to those student-athletes with the highest grade-point averages -- from the league-wide total of 135.

The university also had 107 student-athletes on the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll from a total of 1,023 for the league.

"I think our coaches make a concerted effort to recruit athletes who are students first and athletes second, students who are committed to getting a good education," Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman said. "It's more of an emphasis year after year, and we're very pleased with the performance of some of our student-athletes."

The Southeast men's cross country team had eight runners named to the Commissioner's Honor Roll for maintaining a GPA of 3.25 or above. The university total of 107 is a school record.

From the cross county team, Dustin Davis, Brad DeMattei, Brandon Karcher, Lucas Luckett, Kevin McNab, Mark McNamara, Paul Stemmerman and Danny Stults made the honor roll.

Davis and McNamara won Medals of Honor in cross country and track and field.

All of the Medals of Honor winners from Southeast Missouri State carried 4.0 GPAs for 2006-07.

Southeast's other Medals of Honor winners were: Josh Parham, Scott Powers and Andrew Wiese, baseball; Rachel Blunt, women's basketball; Matt Boyack, football; Courtney Alexander and Amber Garner, soccer; Lindsay Woodworth and Megan McDonald, softball; Kim Anderson, tennis; Molly Davis, volleyball; and Heather West, women's track. Joining Davis and McNamara as double honorees for track and cross country were Brittni Peck, Sarah Verelst, Amy Warren and Lindsay Zeiler.

Morehead State won the OVC Institutional Academic Achievement Award for the highest percentage of student-athletes on the Commissioner's Honor Roll, while only Eastern Illinois had more Medals of Honor winners (27) than Southeast.

The complete list of Commissioner's Honor Roll award winners from Southeast:

Baseball -- Matthew Carter, Greg Dambach, Derek Hayden, Jim Klocke, Josh Parham, Dustin Pritchett, Scott Powers, Josh Syberg, Andrew Wiese and Sean Zoellner;

Men's basketball -- Roderick Pearson;

Women's basketball -- Rachel Blunt, Heather Diebold, Mathilde Dufour, Ashley Lovelady, Tarina Nixon and Szandra Pal;

Women's cross country and track -- Stephanie Harres, Juli Koenegstein, Katherine Mueller, Brittni Peck, Sarah Verelst, Amy Warren and Lindsay Zeiler;

Women's track -- Ashley Brewer, Lashonda Conley, Precious Elliott, Danielle Gross, Audrey Harwood, Lindsay Hearne, Orie Ibe, Rebecca Martin, Samantha Shaw, Heather West and Brenda Whitworth;

Football -- Kevin Ballatore, Matt Boyack, Stephen Callanan, Joseph Goff, Kyle Hubert, Zach Leible, Kendall Magana, Oge Oge, Colin Schermann, Nick Stauffer and Joseph Tuineau;

Women's soccer -- Courtney Alexander, Molli Beard, Nicole Bussman, Amber Garner, Caitlin Huber, Jessica Kaiz, Stephanine Kulavic, Alaina Lacopo, Lauren Lacopo, Megan Matter and Jessica Wuellner;

Softball -- Stephanie Mata, Megan McDonald, Katie Otterness and Lindsay Woodworth;

Tennis -- Kim Anderson, Bryce Kristal, Drew Kristal, Julia Massotti and Elise Nattier;

Volleyball -- Alyssa Aston, Sarah Barth, Molly Davis, Karleigh DeLong, Katrina Niemeyer and Brenna Schlader;

Gymnastics -- Danyelle Aber, Sandra Blake, Jennifer Dinan, Alison Ezell, Amber Garlotte, Maureen Grimaldi, Jacqueline Heath, Kelley Krengiel, Jena Nguyen, Starlyn Schwartz, Rikara Turner and Bryanna Wong.