DEKALB, Ill. – Twenty Northern Illinois University student-athletes were recognized as Mid-American Conference Distinguished Scholar Athletes from the fall sports season, the league office announced on Monday.
 
The 20 Huskies honored by the MAC – six from football, four selections each from volleyball, women's soccer and three from both women's cross country and men's soccer – is an improvement on the 17 NIU honorees for the same award last year. Carly Pederson (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) and Alex Elias (Phoenix, Ariz./Boulder Creek) of women's soccer are the only Huskies on this year's list to earn the MAC's Distinguished Scholar Award three years.
 
The complete list of NIU's MAC Distinguished Scholar Athlete selections for fall 2016 along with their GPAs, and majors:
 
CC – Ericka Hibser, So., 4.0, Biology
CC – Kelsey Hildreth, Jr., 4.0, Nutrition, Dietetics & Wellness
CC – Carly Pederson, Sr., 3.842, Nursing
MSOC – Daegan DeBono, Sr., 3.9, Finance
MSOC – Drew Donnally, Jr., 4.0, Chemistry
MSOC – Richard Hall, Sr., 3.709, Mathematics
WSOC – Amy Annala, Jr., 4.0, Accountancy
WSOC – Haley Cummings, Sr., 3.869, Mechanical Engineering
WSOC – Alex Elias, Sr., 3.912, Mathematics Education
WSOC – Taylor Sarver, So., 3.68, Communicative Disorders
VB – Anna Brereton, Jr., 3.985, Biological Sciences
VB – Mary Grace Kelly, Sr., 3.965, Health Science-Pre-Physical Therapy
VB – Meg Wolowicz, So., 3.536, Rehabilitation Services
VB – Lauren Zielinski, Sr., 3.432, Psychology
FB – Christian Hagan, Jr., 3.57 GPA, Leadership and Management
FB – Corey Kennedy, R-Fr., 3.94 GPA, Accountancy
FB – Max Scharping, So., 3.98 GPA, Kinesiology
FB – Luke Shively, So., 3.46 GPA, Chemistry
FB – Jordan Steckler, R-Fr., 3.68 GPA, Marketing
FB – Shane Wimann, Jr., 3.60 GPA, Sociology
 
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, winter and spring competition seasons and are chosen from among the student-athletes who are named to the Academic All-MAC squad from their respective sports. All have a grade point average of 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 competitions that season.
 
NIU football's six honorees are the most by a Huskie fall sports team and are headlined by CoSIDA Academic All-District selection and first-team All-MAC honoree Max Scharping (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest). Juniors Shane Wimann (Wisconsin Dells, Wis./Wisconsin Dells), a tight end and kicker Christian Hagan (Omaha, Neb./Westside), along with Scharping, garnered Distinguished Scholar Athlete Awards for the second straight year. Sophomores Luke Shively (Tipton, Ind./Tipton) and redshirt freshmen Jordan Steckler (Two Rivers, Wis./Two Rivers) and Corey Kennedy (Oswego, Ill./Oswego East) are earning the award for the first time in their careers.
 
Distinguished Scholar Athlete is the latest award bestowed upon four members of the 2016 MAC Champion and NCAA Tournament qualifying NIU volleyball team. First team All-MAC selection Mary Grace Kelly (Strongsville, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) carries a 3.965 GPA in health science-pre-physical therapy, while junior Anna Brereton (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) boasts the highest GPA on the Huskie volleyball squad with a 3.985 in biological sciences. All-MAC honorable mention selections Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) and Lauren Zielinski (Oak Forest, Ill./Marist) round out the quartet.
 
The NIU women's soccer team also saw four of its members earn the honor as well with goalkeeper Amy Annala (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) and forward Taylor Sarver (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) leading the group. Annala posts a 4.0 GPA in accountancy, while Saver was a first team All-MAC honoree and has a 3.68 GPA in communicative disorders. Hayley Cummins (Spring, Texas), a mechanical engineering major and Elias, who majors in mathematics education, complete NIU women's soccer representatives.
 
A pair of 4.0 student-athletes highlights the three Distinguished Scholar Athletes from NIU's women's cross-country team. Sophomore Ericka Hibser (Lewistown, Ill./Lewistown) junior Kelsey Hildreth (Byron, Ill./Byron) and each carry a 4.0 in biology and nutrition, dietetics and wellness, respectively. Pederson, a nursing major, is the third member of the NIU cross-country team to be recognized for her success in the classroom.
 
Like the NIU women's cross-country team, the Huskie men's soccer squad also had three members honored by league FARs. A chemistry major with a 4.0 GPA, junior goalkeeper Drew Donnally (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) leads the way for the Huskie trio. Seniors Daegan DeBono (Lapeer, Mich./Lapeer West) and Richard Hall (Billericay, England/The Billercay School), who earned Distinguished Scholar Athlete honors for the second year in a row, carry GPAs of 3.0 and 3.7, respectively. DeBono majors in finance, while Hall is studying mathematics.
 
- NIU -