Wednesday, May 10, 2006

MORAVIAN HONORS SENIOR STUDENT-ATHLETES;
HENNESSY & JACOUBS NAMED SENIOR ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

BETHLEHEM, PA --- Moravian College honored its 2006 senior student-athletes at its annual Senior Athletics Awards Banquet Wednesday night in the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center. Softball standout Meagan Hennessy (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Township HS) was named the Outstanding Senior Female Athlete while football player Chris Jacoubs (Fair Haven, NJ/Rumson-Fair Haven HS) was honored with the Outstanding Senior Male Athlete award. The Blue & Grey Scholar Athlete awards were presented to women’s soccer player Erin Gonda (Bethlehem, PA/Salisbury HS) and men’s soccer athlete George Gray (Collegeville, PA/Perkiomen Valley HS). The H.T.D. Gillespie Award for outstanding service to Moravian’s athletics program was presented to Ken ’79 & Ann ’79 Rampolla.

Hennessy, a pitcher, has helped the Greyhounds to a 33-7 record this season and the team’s ninth straight trip to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament that begins on Thursday in Salisbury, Maryland. Hennessy, a two-time All-American, is 22-5 in the circle this season with a 0.45 ERA, 14 shutouts, five saves, two no-hitters, 237 strikeouts and just 83 hits, 49 walks and 20 runs (13 earned) in 200 2/3 innings of action. Hennessy, who already owns every Moravian pitching record, is continuing to climb the NCAA Division III record books. She is 6th in career strikeouts with 834, 2nd in shutouts with 51, 7th in wins with 89, tied for 9th in career ERA at 0.86, 8th in innings pitched with 785.2, tied for 6th in complete games with 100, tied for 11th in games started with 109, and 13th games with 124. Hennessy, who has been the Commonwealth Conference Pitcher of the Week six times this season and was the Commonwealth Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player, has one hit at the plate this spring and has scored 11 runs.

Jacoubs, a running back, helped Moravian to a 7-4 record this past fall and the 2005 Eastern College Athletic Conference Southwest Bowl Championship. Jacoubs rewrote the Moravian record books. Jacoubs led Moravian with 1,014 yards and ten touchdowns on 228 carries this season. Jacoubs had 3,854 yards (first all-time at Moravian) in just 31 career games with 17 100-plus yard games in 26 starts, including four games over 200 yards. Jacoubs became the first player in school history to reach 3,000 rushing yards and the only player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back-to-back seasons in 2003, 2004 and 2005. He is also first all-time with 216 points, 36 career touchdowns, and 786 career rushing attempts.

Gonda, a defender who earned Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors, helped the Greyhounds to their best season ever with the program’s first-ever NCAA Division III Tournament appearance and a 16-6-1 record on the season including an opening round win in the NCAA Tournament. Moravian had a 5-1-1 mark during the Commonwealth Conference regular season and made the program’s fourth appearance in the Commonwealth Conference Tournament, playing for the conference championship for the first time in school history. Gonda scored three goals and an assist for seven points, and she was named to the Commonwealth All-Conference Second Team for the third straight year. Gonda has also been on the Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation Academic Honor Roll three times. Gonda had five goals and five assists for 15 points in 57 career matches. Gonda has a 3.79 grade point average, and she is majoring in sociology.

Gray, a defender, scored one goal and added two assists for four points last fall for the Greyhounds. He played in 15 matches, starting 13, and an injury caused him to miss four matches. Gray was the Greyhounds’ team captain this year and is president of the Omicron Gamma Omega fraternity. Gray has been on the MASCAC Academic Honor Roll three times and a member of the Student-Athlete Mentor program at Moravian. Gray has a 3.50 grade point average, and he is majoring in accounting and computer science.

The Rampolla’s have made many contributions to the Moravian Athletic Department since their graduation including contributions to the Rocco Calvo Field project completed last fall and the replacement of the floor in Johnston Hall in 1999.