Moraine Valley student-athletes honored with NJCAA and conference academic awards

Moraine Valley Community College student-athletes have the brains to go with their brawn. Among nearly 60,000 student-athletes who compete in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), 22 Moraine Valley student-athletes were recognized with the 2015-16 Academic Student-Athlete Award for their academic achievement. Additionally, 37 students were named Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) All-Academic Athletes of the Year and 48 (up from 26) freshmen were named All-Conference Freshmen Academic Athletes of the year, collectively more than any other school in the conference.

Being named an NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete requires having higher than a 3.6 GPA and participating in the college’s sport for a least one season. Runners Alec Altman (Sandburg), Jeremy Morgan (Tinley Park), Hannah Funk (Sandburg), Gabriela Plewa (Reavis), and Weronika Staszel (Reavis); soccer players Kortnie Hanold (Shepard), Wiktoria Paczkowska (Reavis), Tawfik Dayem (Al Baath), and Daniel Vallejo (Reavis); basketball players Abdal Ishtaiah (Reavis), Alec Martinez (Sandburg), Joe Ruzevich (Brother Rice), and Krista Brill (Oak Forest); golfer David Karwoski (Oak Forest); tennis players Agnieszka Szudy (Stagg), Breanna Vollan (Chicago Christian), Gregorio Illner (Colégio Santo Inácio), who also played soccer for the Cyclones, Eric Smith (Sandburg), and Aleksandar Lucic (Sandburg); softball players Hannah Thielmann (Andrew), Molly Pohrebny (Richards) and Alexis Lyons (Shepard) received this honor.

To earn the ISCC distinction, students must have earned a 3.0 or higher GPA after completing at least 48 course credit hours while participating in one of the college’s 12 sports. The athletes selected were baseball players Shawn Chiaramonte (Richards), Jorge Hernandez (Reavis), Jeff Kosiek (Sandburg), Tyler O’Connell (Sandburg), and Ryan Trokey (Sandburg); golfers Karwoski, Scott Borden (Oak Forest) and John Orowick (Lincoln-Way North); basketball players Ashley Carroll (Beecher), Kailey Foster (Joliet West), McKayla Smith (Andrew), Ishtaiah and Ermias Nega (Wakefield); runners Morgan, Braulio Castellanos (Reavis), Amy Miller (Shepard), and Tonie Wasco (Sandburg); soccer players Liliana Cabrera (Hubbard), Hanold, Christian Czaja (Lockport), Alan Garcia (Sandburg), John Nowobilski (St. Rita), Miguel Ruiz (Kelly), Rafal Slomba (Reavis), Vallejo, and Ivan Velazquez (Reavis); tennis players Szudy, Illner, Reigh Lamparas (Reavis), and Steven Leavy (Oak Forest); softball players Pohrebny and Thielmann; volleyball players Nicole Alfini (Sandburg), Amanda Host (Tinley Park), Allison Nash (Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences), Kate Patnett (Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences), and Carolyn Yerkes (Marist). Thielmann and Illner were awarded the Dick Durrant Award for the highest G.P.A. (4.0) in the conference. They were two out of four athletes in the ISCC to receive this honor.

The All-Conference Freshmen Academic Athletes must have completed at least 24 credit hours with a 3.0 GPA or higher. Moraine Valley recipients are baseball players Nick Gerzon (Stagg), Adrian Gonzalez (Brother Rice), Yunis Halim (Oak Lawn), Niko Kutsulis (Providence), Anthony Lauciello (Sandburg), Ryne Melnik (Oak Lawn), and Kyle Phillips (Sandburg); basketball players Brill, Erin Drynan (Mother McAuley), Ciara Holloway (Argo), Martinez, Ruzevich, Tommy Demogerontas (Sandburg), Zack Haxel (Shepard), Luke Hook (Andrew), Elonas Marcauskas (Council Rock), and Jordan Radcliff (Columbus International); runners Altman, Michael Bradley (Mount Carmel), Funk, Plewa, Staszel, Stephanie Majewski (Reavis), and Yuliana Olivares (Reavis); soccer players Paczkowska, Alex Abed (Stagg), Dalila Alcala (Eisenhower), Kaylyn Egyarto (Sandburg), Ewelina Kmin (Reavis), Diana Lang (Marist), Paulina Stafira (Stagg), Dayem, Daniel Navar (Morton), Thomas Nie (Sandburg), and Evan Vouris (Sandburg); tennis players Lucic, Smith, Vollan, Alexis Kasper (Reavis), Haley Reiher (Chicago Christian), and Azizah Zayed (Reavis); softball players Lyons, Alyssa DeChene (Shepard), Bailey Gala (Mother McAuley), and Maddie Poole (Sandburg); volleyball players Kortney Chase (Eisenhower), Kaitlyn Myles (Queen of Peace) and Carly Nowaczyk (St. Ignatius).

“We continue to produce high achieving students on and off the field, and we couldn’t be more proud. It’s a testament to the hard work of these athletes and is a fine representation of Moraine Valley,” said Athletics Director Bill Finn.