General | 6/14/2018 2:35:00 PM

    BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – West Liberty University's student-athletes capped another strong year in the classroom on Thursday when 68 Hilltopper standouts were named to the Mountain East Conference's All-Academic Team and Commissioner's Honor Roll for the spring semester.
    West Liberty had 26 student-athletes from the winter and spring sports seasons qualify for MEC All-Academic Team honors after earning a GPA of 3.70 or better in their spring classes while 42 Hilltoppers made the MEC Commissioner's Honor Roll with second-semester GPAs ranging from 3.25 to 3.69.
    The spring sports awards include all MEC student-athletes competing in baseball, softball, men's tennis, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's track and field and lacrosse.
    When combined with the 93 WLU student-athletes who were honored on the MEC's 2017-18 fall semester, the Hilltopper athletic department finished the 2017-18 school year with more than 160 of its NCAA Division II student-athletes – approximately one-third of all Black and Gold athletes – posting GPAs of 3.25 or higher during their seasons of competition.
    Coach Herb Minch's softball team led the way in the spring with a staggering 24 student-athletes earning academic honors – 11 with GPAs of 3.70 or higher. Coach Eric Burkle's baseball program was next in line with 16 honorees.
    This is the third year for the conference's academic recognition program. It was instituted to honor the commitment of its student-athletes to maintaining a high level of academic success while their sport is in season.
    Here's a sport-by-sport list of West Liberty's 68 MEC spring sports honorees:
       Adam Campbell, Coby Eckstein, Christopher Folina, Marques McHaffie, Cody Shook      Dalton Bolon, James Griffin      Zac Budreau, Austin Raines      Katie Beeman, Skylar Fankhauser, Kelsi Johnson, Charli McConnell, Audrey Meloun, Hope Ruza, Kaitlyn Stress, Marley Thompson, Charley Troggio, Morgan Vickless, Taylor Wright      Allie Farina, McKenna Shives, Audrey Tingle      Hannah Phillips, Brianna Ritz, Charley Troggio      Samuel Aulick, Tyler Blomquist, Tyler Cooley, Jarrett Delbrugge, Justin Delbrugge, Matthew Gruber, Colin Hlad, Nolan Marcus, Benjamin Taylor, Mitchell Viakley, Justin Retzer      Hayden Blazer, Vincent Huynh, Zach Kirkwood      Evan French, Tyler Primmer, Keegan Saben      Chase Brown, Michael Games, Dylan Marling, Thomas Simons, Hogan Wells, Colten Wright      Conner Assif, Sydney Bennington, Megan Bosley, Madison Collett, Allie Cook, Kat Donzella, Abigail Ferlin, Linda Hall, Kaitlyn Higginbotham, Sarah Meloun, Skylar Minzler, Kelly Mullins, Laral Saunders      Evelyn Frobey, Aubrey Harriman, Sydney Jeffreys, Hannah Ramirez, Amanda Theodoro, Alexis Turner-Davis