DEKALB, Ill. – Fifteen Northern Illinois University spring student-athletes were recognized as Mid-American Conference Distinguished Scholar Athletes, the league office announced.

Student-athletes from all seven of NIU's spring sports were honored by the conference, including five honorees from the MAC West Division champion Huskie softball team. This spring's 15 honorees betters last spring's mark of 12 MAC Distinguished Scholar Athletes.

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 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.

Here is the complete list of NIU's MAC Distinguished Scholar Athletes for the spring of 2016:

BB - Justin Fletcher, Senior, 3.918 GPA, Business Administration
BB - *Johnny Zubek, Senior, 3.981 GPA, Political Science/Pre-Law
M Golf - Joo-Young Lee, Junior, 3.279 GPA, Finance
W Golf - Connie Ellett, Senior, 3.91 GPA, Marketing
W Golf - *Lena Gautier, Junior, 3.51 GPA, Organizational & Corporate Communication
SB - *Kayti Grable, Junior, 3.56 GPA, Journalism
SB - Kali Kossakowski, Junior, 3.71 GPA, Nursing
SB - *Emily Naegele, Senior, 3.90 GPA, Pre-Physical Therapy
SB - Tara Thacker, Sophomore, 4.00 GPA, Nursing
SB - Caitlyn Warren, Senior, 3.73 GPA, Sociology
MTEN - *Carlos Manzanas, Junior, 4.00 GPA, Mechanical Engineering
WTEN - *Cristina Alvarez, Senior, 3.95 GPA, Electrical-Computer Engineering
T&F - Kelsey Hildreth, Sophomore, 4.00 GPA, Nutrition
T&F - Carly Pederson, Junior, 3.91 GPA, Nursing
T&F - Hannah Savage, Senior, 3.85 GPA, Biological Sciences

NIU softball's five honorees include third team All-American and first team Academic All-American Emily Naegele (Oak Forest, Ill./Radford), a pre-physical therapy major with a 3.9 GPA. Naegele, along with fellow First Team All-MAC honoree Kayti Grable (Santee, Calif/Santana), were honored as MAC Distinguished Scholar Athletes for the second consecutive year. A pair of Second Team All-MAC honorees, Kali Kossakowski (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward) and Caitlyn Warren (Naperville, Ill./Wisconsin) also earned Distinguished Scholar Athletes recognition, along with Tara Thacker (Uniontown, Ohio/North Canton Hoover).

Three members of the Huskie track and field team were honored by the by the conference office, including NCAA regional qualifier Kelsey Hildreth (Byron, Ill./Byron), who holds a perfect 4.0 GPA in nutrition. Fellow distance runners Carly Pederson (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) and Hannah Savage (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls) also received Distinguished Scholar Athlete honors.

Johnny Zubek (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) of the NIU baseball team earned Distinguished Scholar Athlete recognition for the second-straight year and was joined by fellow senior Justin Fletcher (Pekin, Ill./Illinois Central College).

The Huskie golf programs combined for three Distinguished Scholar Athletes as Golf Coaches Association of America All-Region performer Joo-Young Lee (Hillard, Ohio/Xavier) claimed the honor on the men's side while Connie Ellett (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and Lena Gautier (La Celle Saint Cloud, France/Creteil) were recognized from the Huskie women's golf team. For Gautier, this marks her second consecutive MAC Distinguished Scholar Athlete recognition.

NIU men's and women's tennis are each represented by two-time MAC Distinguished Scholar Athlete honorees. Carlos Manzanas (Madrid, Spain/IES Principe Felipe), a mechanical engineering major with a 4.0 GPA, represents the Huskie men's tennis team while Cristina Alvarez (Zaragoza, Spain/Zaragoza and Cristorey Sagrado Corazon de Jesus), an electrical-computer engineering major with a 3.95 GPA, represents the NIU women's tennis team.

The 15 spring student-athletes recognized by the MAC join 17 fall Distinguished Scholar Athletes and six winter honorees to total 38 Huskie honored as MAC Distinguished Scholar Athletes during the 2015-16 academic year.