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NIU Scholar Athletes of the Week: March 1-6

March 7, 2016 DeKALB, Ill. - Each week, NIU honors two student-athletes that exemplify the concept of the "student-athlete" supremely well. These students excel both in the classroom and on the playing field. This week, the honorees are Austin Eicher of wrestling and Courtney Dowdell of gymnastics.

NIU student-athletes won 10 times during the 2014-15 season, tied for the most in the conference, and have already won six times this year as well.

NIU Scholar-Athletes of the Week (March 1-March 6)



Austin Eicher



Courtney Dowdell
MALE RECIPIENT FEMALE RECIPIENT
Sport: Wrestling Sport: Gymnastics
Year: Redshirt Freshman Year: Junior
Position: 133 Pounds Position: Vault/Floor
GPA: 3.05 GPA: 3.00
Major: Organizational/corporate communications Major: Nursing
Week's Achievements:
Austin Eicher went from No. 7 seed to MAC Champion at 133 pounds last weekend, pulling off an upset run to the conference title by winning all three of his matches. After defeating wrestlers from Ohio and Eastern Michigan on Saturday, Eicher defeated Corey Keener of Central Michigan 3-1 in sudden victory on Sunday in the 133-pound title match to become NIU’s first individual MAC wrestling champion since 2011. Eicher earned NIU 18 team points, which boosted the Huskies to a total of 65 points at the MAC Championships, the most for the program since 2004.
 Week's Achievements:
Courtney Dowdell earned the title as best collegiate vaulter in Illinois this season by winning the event on Saturday at the State of Illinois Classic, scoring 9.775 to top gymnasts from Illinois, Illinois State and UIC. Dowdell continued her strong meet by actually posting a better score on the floor exercise, garnering a mark of 9.850, to lead the Huskies and finish fourth in the state. Those two strong marks by Dowdell helped NIU finish the meet in second with 194.225 points as a team, just behind Illinois.
Previous Honorees
Week of February 22-February 29

Justin Fletcher - Won MAC Award

Emily Naegele
Week of February 15-February 21

Joo-Young Lee

Emily Naegele
Week of February 8-February 14

Carlos Manzanas - Won MAC Award

Megan Greenfield
Week of February 1-February 7

Tom Hjertonsson

Kelsey Hildreth
Week of January 25-January 31

Andrew Morse

Cassidy Glenn
Week of January 18-January 24

Tom Hjertonsson

Abigail Dekkinga
Week of January 11-January 17

Austin Eicher

Megan Greenfield
Week of January 4-January 10

Chuks Iroegbu

Kedisha Dallas
Weeks of Winter Break

Quinton Rosser

Kelly Smith
Week of November 30-December 6

Andrew Ness

Lorena Martin
Week of November 23-November 29

William Lee

Lacia Gorman - Won MAC Award
Week of November 16-November 22

Cameron Clinton-Earl

Alexis Gonzalez
Week of November 9-November 15

Max Scharping

Mary Grace Kelly
Week of November 2-November 8

Ryan Graham - Won MAC Award

Mary Grace Kelly
Week of October 26-November 1

Louis-Phillipe Hamel

Kelsey Hildreth
Week of October 19-October 25

Shane Wimann

Amy Annala - Won MAC Award
Week of October 12-October 18

Andrew Ness

Amy Annala
Week of October 5-October 11

Drew Hare - Won MAC Award

Anna Brereton
Week of September 28-October 4

Giovanni Garcia

Cristina Alvarez
Week of September 21-September 27

Cameron Clinton-Earl

Lauren Gierman
Week of September 14-September 20

Taylor Cole

Anna Brereton
Week of September 8-September 13

Luke Read

Lena Gautier
Week of September 1-September 7

Shane Wimann

Kelsey Hildreth
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