Thursday, May 16, 2002

27 MORAVIAN STUDENT-ATHLETES NAMED TO MAC SPRING ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM

ANNVILLE, PA --- The Moravian College spring athletic teams had 27 members named to the 2002 Middle Atlantic Conference Spring-All-Academic Team with at least one member from each of the six spring sports and led by twelve honorees from the women's track and field team. To be eligible for the MAC All-Academic Team, a student-athlete must be a starter or significant reserve, a sophomore, junior, or senior and maintain a 3.2 grade-point average.

In addition to the twelve selections from the women's track and field team, the men's track and field team had five honorees. The baseball team had four selections while three softball players, two golfers and one men's tennis player each made the MAC All-Academic Team.

Among the twelve women's track and field selections was senior Emily Shertzer (Hummelstown, PA/ Lower Dauphin), who won the MAC Championship in the 10,000 meters for the fourth consecutive year with a time of 39:17.76 and she won the inaugural 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:25.90. Senior Erin Boyle (Philadelphia, PA/Nazareth Academy) was second in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:39.23 and she took sixth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:22.34. Senior Amanda Samok (Palmerton, PA/Palmerton) was eighth in the 400 meter run with a time of 1:03.89 at the MAC Championships while senior Jennifer Boberg (Lansford, PA/ Panther Valley) competed in the 800-meter preliminaries, finishing 15th with a time of 2:29.61. Junior Jennifer Wagner (Riegelsville, PA/Wilson) was second to Shertzer< in the 10,000 meters with a time of 39:45.00 while senior Tiffany Catalino (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) was third in the steeplechase with a time of 12:19.22 and ninth in the 1,500 meters with a time of 5:08.57.

Senior Heidi Wolfsberger (Moosic, PA/Riverside), who was named the Moravian Senior Female Athletic Award winner, was third in both the 800-meter and 1,500-meter races with times of 2:19.88 and 4:42.47 respectively. Sophomore Nicole Sabaliauskas (Butler, NJ/Butler) placed second in the heptathlon with 3,264 points at the MAC Championships.  Classmate Christina Scherwin (Denmark) won the shot put and javelin events with MAC record distances of 43 feet, seven inches in the shot put and 164 feet, eight inches in the javelin. Junior Amanda Wynn (Hellertown, PA/Saucon Valley) was fourth in the pole vault, clearing a height of nine feet, 5 ¼ inches. Rounding out the women's track and field selections are sophomores Angela Morgan (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty), who was fifth in the 10,000 meters with a time of 42:14.49 at the MAC Meet, and Jennifer Brief (Clark, NJ/Arthur L. Johnson), who placed 14^th in the 5,000 meters with a time of 20:34.30.

Of the men's track and field team, junior John Lesoine (East Stroudsburg, PA/East Stroudsburg) placed second in the hammer throw with a toss of 164 feet, nine inches and he was ninth in the shot put with a throw of 40 feet, 2 ¾ inches. Junior Wes Zimmerman (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown) was seventh in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 33:53.39 while classmate Justin Arnold (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) placed 12th in the 10,000 meters with a time of 36:22.42. Sophomore Scott Williams (Bangor, PA/Bangor) finished 19th in the hammer throw with a toss of 105 feet, two inches at the MAC Championships while junior Eric Paul (Reading, PA/Reading Central Catholic) was sixth in the decathlon with 5,020 points.

Senior outfielder Michael Abbate (South Plainfield, NJ/Bishop Ahr HS) led the four baseball players named to the MAC All-Academic Team. Abbate, who was selected as Moravian Senior Male Athletic Award winner, was named to the Commonwealth Conference All-Star Second Team and he set school records for games played (38), hits (43) and at-bats (131) while hitting .328. Joining Abbate were junior pitcher Ryan Boyle (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty HS) and sophomores outfielder/designated hitter Ethan Ordog (Roebling, NJ/Holy Cross HS) and infielder Matthew Turtell (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst HS). Boyle was 1-3 on the mound in 23 innings and he had six hits, six runs scored and four RBIs in 17 games. Ordog collected 19 hits with 16 RBIs, nine runs scored and one home run this season while Turtell had a .309 average, 38 hits, 30 runs scored, 20 RBIs, 24 walks and two homers. Moravian posted a 13-25 record this season.

Moravian's three softball honorees included seniors outfielder Summer Miller (Mount Holly, NJ/Rancocas Valley Regional HS) and second baseman Laurie Rentschler (Slatington, PA/Northern Lehigh HS) and sophomore third baseman Janelle Brey (Allentown, PA/Dieruff HS). The trio helped the Greyhounds to a 34-8 record this season, a school record for victories.  Moravian won its third straight Commonwealth Conference title and competed in the NCAA Division III East Regional for the fifth straight year. Miller played in 30 games this season.  She hit .278 with 20 hits, ten RBIs, six runs scored and three doubles. Miller picked up her 100th career hit earlier this season. Rentschler, a Second Team Commonwealth Conference All-Star, set the Moravian record for games played in a career at 167. She had a .330 average season with 29 hits, 19 runs scored, 13 RBIs and a team leading ten sacrifices and she also reach 100 career hits this spring. Rentschler had a .983 fielding percentage with just three errors in 172 chances. Brey, who was the Commonwealth Conference Player of the Year and a First Team All-Star, led the Greyhounds this season with school records of 52 RBIs, 92 total bases, 15 doubles and ten home runs. Brey also added a .366 batting average with 45 hits, 13 walks and she tied for the team lead with 32 runs scored.

Senior golfer Ricky Gower (Bath, PA/Bethlehem Catholic HS) and Sean Alden (Tunkhannock, PA/Tunkhannock HS) helped the Greyhounds to a 3-2 mark this season including a victory over rival Muhlenberg College that helped Moravian win the Matte Award for the 14th straight year. The Greyhounds also took third at the 2002 MAC Championships. Gower averaged 85.9 strokes per round over eight rounds during his final season while Alden averaged 85.3 per round in eight rounds.

Junior men's tennis player Dan Gorman (Saylorsburg, PA/Pleasant Valley HS) helped Moravian to the squad's second straight MAC Playoff appearance this season and an overall record of 11-7. Gorman played sixth singles and third doubles for Moravian this spring and posted records of 10-6 in singles action and 10-8 in doubles play with partner Todd Edwards.