July 24, 2015 CLEVELAND - Seventeen Northern Illinois University student-athletes, representing 10 different winter and spring sports programs, have earned the Distinguished Scholar-Athlete Award from the Mid-American Conference as the league office announced 359 recipients Friday.

The list of recipients includes two members of NIU’s MAC Championship men’s tennis team, eight All-MAC selections, two Academic All-Americans and MAC Women’s Tennis Player of the year, Nelle Youel, who completed an undefeated season for the Huskies in 2014-15.

The Distinguished Scholar-Athlete Award is presented to student-athletes who the league's faculty athletics representatives voted as the "best of the best" in both athletics and academics. The Distinguished Scholar-Athletes are announced at the conclusion of the fall and spring semester competitions and are chosen from among the student-athletes who are named to the Academic All-MAC squad from their respective sports. All have a GPA of at least 3.20, are in at least their second year at their respective institutions and have participated in at least 50 percent of their team's athletic contests that year.

The complete list of NIU’s MAC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes for the winter and spring of 2015:

WINTER
TF - Alexandria Isom, Sophomore, 3.98 GPA, Journalism (St. Louis, Mo.)
TF - Alexandra Schad, Senior, 3.95 GPA, Pre-Physical Therapy (Milwaukee, Wis.)
WBB - Amanda Corral, Senior, 4.00 GPA, Pre-Physical Therapy (Hobart, Ind.)
GYM - Kelly Nortz, Senior, 3.778 GPA, Nursing (Bay Village, Ohio)
GYM - Amanda Stepp, Senior, 3.570 GPA, Nursing (Lapeer, Mich.)

SPRING
MTN - Frederic Cadieux, Senior, Business, 3.859 GPA (Verdun, Quebec)
MTN - Carlos Manzanas, Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering, 4.00 GPA (Madrid, Spain)
WTN - Cristina Alvarez, Junior, 3.95 GPA, Electrical Engineering (Zaragoza, Spain)
WTN - Nelle Youel, Senior, 4.00 GPA, Pre-Physical Therapy (Crystal Lake, Ill.)
WGF - Lena Gautier, Sophomore, Business, 3.296 GPA (La Celle Saint Cloud, France)
SB - Emily Naegele, Junior, 3.944 GPA, Health Sciences/Pre-Physical Therapy (Oak Forest, Ill.)
SB - Kayti Grable, Sophomore, 3.501 GPA, Journalism (Santee, Calif.)
SB - Jessica Sturm, Senior, 3.27 GPA, Organizational/Corporate Communications (Wichita, Kan.)
TF - Julianne Cronin, Senior, 3.21 GPA, Business Administration (Bartlett, Ill.)
TF - Alexandria Isom, Sophomore, 3.98 GPA, Journalism (St. Louis, Mo.)
TF - Alexandra Schad, Senior, 3.95 GPA, Pre-Physical Therapy (Milwaukee, Wis.)
BSB - Johnny Zubek, Junior, 3.97 GPA, Political Science/Public Law (Oak Forest, Ill.)

Three of the Huskies honorees, Amanda Corral, Carlos Manzanas and Youel, all maintained perfect 4.0 grade point averages. A sophomore, Manzanas is majoring in mechanical engineering while seniors Corral and Youel both major in pre-physical therapy. Both Corral and Youel were CoSIDA Academic All-Americans this year, with Corral earning first team honors while Youel secured a spot on the at-large second team.

Five of the student-athletes listed in the group major in Northern Illinois University’s pre-physical therapy program while three are majoring in business and journalism. All told, eight different majors were represented on the list.

First team All-MAC performers include softball’s Katie Grable, Emily Naegele and Jessica Sturm, women’s basketball’s Corral, track and field’s Alexandria Isom, men’s tennis’ Frederic Cadieux and women’s tennis’ Youel. Gymnast Amanda Stepp qualified for the NCAA Regional in Norman, Okla.

In the first year of the award, the Huskies had 31 athletes receive MAC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes honors as NIU’s 17 winter/spring MAC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete winners join 14 fall sports Huskie student-athletes honored in January.

-- NIU --

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