St. John's University Athletics
Three St. John’s Programs Honored with BIG EAST Academic Excellence Award
7/31/2018 1:50:00 PM | Baseball, Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball
QUEENS, N.Y. -Following tremendous campaigns on and off the playing surface, a trio of St. John's teams has been awarded the BIG EAST Team Academic Excellence Award. Baseball, women's soccer, and volleyball were each presented with the honor after having the highest GPA in the conference for their respective sports.
The winners were chosen based on the 2017-18 grade-point average of each student-athlete who appeared on an institution's roster as of the last contest of the championship segment in each conference-sponsored sport.
St. John's was one of only four schools to garner three-or-more certificates, joining Georgetown (five), DePaul (four), and Creighton (three) with the most awards. The women's soccer program was also honored with the highest GPA among all sports in the conference during the 2017-18 academic season.
For the third-consecutive season and fourth overall under Head Coach Ian Stone, the women's soccer squad was honored by the league with the BIG EAST Academic Excellence Award. The 3.73 GPA ranks as the highest across all sports in the conference. Four individuals were also honored for their play on the field as Christina Bellero, Allie Moar, and Jesse Schaefer landed on the All-BIG EAST Second Team, while Maia Cabrera earned a spot on the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team. Entering its 25th season under the direction of Stone, the Johnnies will embark on one of the most challenging schedules in recent memory in 2018. The 18-game slate features showdowns against five programs that reached the NCAA Tournament last season and will begin with a preseason showdown against Wagner on Monday, Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. at Belson Stadium.
Tuesday's announcement marks the fifth award for the baseball program, all since the 2010-11 season. Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer led his squad to its 37th NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018, tied with Southern California and Oklahoma for eighth most among all Division I programs. The 40 wins marked the ninth time over the last 14 tries the Johnnies have reached the 40-win plateau. The Red Storm also won its ninth BIG EAST Regular Season and ninth BIG EAST Tournament title, both of which are league records. John Valente became the first player in the long and storied history of the program to be named BIG EAST Player of the Year, while eight teammates were also named to the All-BIG EAST Team.
Just a week after being honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), the St. John's volleyball team will have to clear another space for hardware after topping the conference in GPA. Since the program came into fruition in 1994, the Red Storm has recorded a GPA of 3.0 or above in 13 seasons, the most in the BIG EAST over that span. On the court, Erica Di Maulo became only the fifth Red Storm volleyball player and second setter to be named to the All-BIG EAST First Team. Teammate Julia Cast also earned accolades as the recent graduate was named ECAC Offensive Player of the Year.
