Scholar Athletes

School-record 311 Pitt student-athletes earn GPAs of 3.0 or higher

A school-record 311 Pitt NCAA student-athletes who earned grade-point averages (GPAs) of 3.0 or higher in the spring or fall of 2006 were recognized at the University’s annual Scholar-Athlete Awards Breakfast sponsored by the Pitt Alumni Association.

Among the 311 honorees, a Pitt-record 23 achieved perfect 4.0 GPAs and 124 were named Big East Academic All-Stars—also a school record.

The Pitt women’s volleyball team won the Academic Team Award and Top Women’s Team honors. The squad boasted 14 scholar-athletes, including two with 4.0 GPAs.

The Top Men’s Team honor went to wrestling, which had 18 scholar-athletes and one 4.0 student. Thirteen team members were named to the Eastern Wrestling League Academic Honor Roll.

With nine scholar-athletes, the men’s basketball team received the Most Improved Team honor.

Also in 2006:
• Thomas DeCato (men’s soccer) and Megan McGrane (volleyball) were named Big East Scholar-Athletes of the Year;
• Nine gymnastics team members were named to the East Atlantic Gymnastics League’s All-Academic Team;
• Six members of the softball team were honored as National Fast Pitch Coaches Association All-American Scholar Athletes;
• The National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women named five members of the gymnastics team as All-American Scholar-Athletes;
• Three tennis team members were named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s All-American Team;
• Two student-athletes were honored as second-team members of the 2005-06 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team—Maureen McCandless (women’s track and field) and Amy Miteff (women’s swimming and diving); and
• Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving squads received Team All-American Awards from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America for their fall 2006 academic achievements.

“Tremendous discipline and dedication are required to achieve in the classroom and in the athletics arena,” Pitt Athletic Director Jeff Long said at the University’s Feb. 1 awards breakfast. “I am so proud of our scholar-athletes. The commitment to excellence demonstrated by these young men and women will carry them forward in serving their communities and in their careers after graduation. We are witnessing the development of the leaders of tomorrow.”

Following are the award winners.

Perfect 4.0 GPA Awards

Cheer and Dance Team
Melissa Matthews, Aimee Moore
Football
Brian Bennett, Tyler Palko
Gymnastics
Nicole Drane, Robyn Marszalek
Men’s Soccer
Tom DeCato, Matt Detzel
Women’s Soccer
Kristy Fultz, Jamie Pelusi
Softball
Valerie Mihalik, Kim Stiles
Volleyball
Meagan Dooley, Megan McGrane
Men’s Swimming and Diving
Jonathan Buchanan, Andrew Sheaff
Women’s Swimming and Diving
Kristin Brown, Amy Miteff
Tennis
Becky Emmers
Women’s Track and Field
Janelle Adams, Suzy Bossart, Kelly O’Connell
Volleyball
Meagan Dooley, Megan McGrane
Wrestling
Joe Ciampoli

Gold Awards (3.5-3.99 GPA)

Baseball
Chad Baker, Justin Cicatello, and Kyle Landis
Men’s Basketball
Charles Small
Women’s Basketball
Karlyle Lim
Cheer and Dance Team
Beth Abbott, Megan Barna, Christina Colalillo, Gina DiCicco, Verle Haines, Karen Inquartano, Nicole Kaminski, Rachel King, Shawn Lucci, Lauren McCormick, Angela Russo, Samantha Schenk, Emily Spade, Kaitlin Turnley, and Kayla Younge
Football
Justin Acierno, Vernon Botts, Steve Buches, Jovani Chappel, Mark Estermyer, Ron Idoko, Frank Kochin, Conor Lee, John Pelusi, Kevan Smith, and Lucas Stone
Gymnastics
Dani Bryan, Samantha DeBene, Cassie Minick, April Pearson, and Lindsay Swan
Men’s Soccer
Tyler Bastianelli, Matt Langton, and Conor Luskin
Women’s Soccer
Carli Brill, Jennifer DeLaHoz, Kendall Enmark, Kristina Francois, Jenna Greenfield, Sara Gutting, Ashley Habbel, Erin McFarling, Caitlin Moore, Erin Myers, Aimee Romasco, Corina Sebasta, Katie Surma, and Kylie Veverka
Softball
Laura Belardinelli, Sheena Hellon, Morgan Howard, and Kayla Zinger
Men’s Swimming and Diving
B.J. Conklyn, Andrew Kyrejko, Jared Martin, Patrick Mansfield, Andrew Natali, Jeremy Stultz, and Charlie Zettel
Women’s Swimming and Diving
Kimmie Baird, Hanna Bratton, Katie Butrie, Kristin Caiazzo, Lindsay Champ, Kristin Criner, Amy He, Allie Horvath, Kelli Krallman, Erin Meehan, Beth Newell, Kelly O’Hara, Kelly Redcay, Erika Rodriguez, Kathy Siuda, Sara Sullivan, and Sarah Wagner
Men’s Track and Field/Cross Country
Eric Burnett, Steve Gonzalez, Will Grinstead, Keith Higham, Kyle Kaminski, Tim Konoval, Curtis Larimer, Mike Long, Matt Raquet, and Brian Woods
Women’s Track and Field/Cross Country
Joelle Ambrose, Monica Bhattcharjee, Nikki Bielick, Rachel Botham, Ali Briggs, Aly Brown, Erin Byrne, Marissa Dudek, Bailey Flask, Katelyn Fleishman, Akiesha Gilcrist, Megan Heenan, Kristin Johnson, Maureen McCandless, Carron Mitchell, Hayle Ritchey, Lauren Shaffer, Kathy Siuda, and Abby Zaylor
Tennis
Anna Broverman, Annie Davies, and Carlie Smith
Women’s Volleyball
Azadeh Boroumand, Madelyn Egan, Melissa Ferguson, Monica Macellari, Kim Norris, Stephanie Ross, and Nicole Taurence
Wrestling
Tim Allen, Matt Darnell, Christopher DeSanctis, Francis Iorfido, Dave Kapetanovich, and Brandon Skonieczky

Blue Awards (3.0-3.49 GPA)

Baseball
Mike Bassage, Rob Brant, Seth Button, Sean Conley, Daniel Ford, Dan Gardo, Ben Knuth, Billy Muldowney, Nick Mullins, Paul Nardozzi, Brendan Schubert, Jeff Stevens, Matthew Tokarczyk, Dan Williams, and Max Zingle
Men’s Basketball
Marcus Bowman, Aaron Gray, Doyle Hudson, Levon Kendall, Maurice Polen, Ronald Ramon, Geoff Rizk, and Sam Young
Women’s Basketball
Danielle Taylor, Sylvie Tafen, and Mallorie Winn
Cheer and Dance Team
Leanne Aurich, Brittany Austin, Christie Bonk, Christie Blondek, Amanda Burger, Rachel Collins, Tiffany Golonka, Jaime Hohn, Katelynn Jackson, Adam Jones, Erin Lageman, Kesa Mayanja, Lauren McPherson, Jessica Myers, Lori Steranchak, Mary Sweeney, Chris Watkinson, Megan Worbs, and Jodie Zangaro
Football
Calvin Allen, John Bachman, Aaron Berry, Shawn Besong, Jemeel Brady, John Brown, Martin Coleman, Mike DeLuca, Kelvin Drewery, Matt Flaus, Eric Fritz, Ricky Gary, Adam Gunn, Kashif Henderson, Francis Johns, Frank Kochin, Dan Loheyde, John Malecki, Mark Mares, Brandon Mason, Scott McKillop, Gus Mustakas, Mike Phillips, Austin Ransom, LaRod Stephens-Howling, Tyler Tkach, Neal Tracey, Chris Vangas, Ross Ventrone, Joe Villani, Dustin Walters, Dave Weber, and Dale Williams
Gymnastics
Andrea Arlotta, Pamela Bender, Alix Croop, Melissa Davidson, Jessica Garber, Jennifer Jones, Andrea Konesky, Nicole Kujawski, Shannon McConnell, Victoria McGuigan-Carl, and Sarah Thompson
Men’s Soccer
Samuli Ahola, Matt Baker, Chris Bastidas, Steve Cavalier, Chris Franczkowski, Matthew Grove, Justin Grubisha, Eric Jaeger, Pat Kerr, E.J. McCormick, Sean Ryan, Brendon Smith, Adam Walkowiak, Chris Wilcox, and Gregory Wilcox
Women’s Soccer
Stephanie Davis, Lauren Engel, Erin Hills, Lailah Issac, Jennifer Kritch, Niki Walters, Megan Watson, and Eric Wright
Softball
Megan Bostick, Heather Connor, Jessica Dignon, April Ghiroli, Mary Hecker, Christa Hunter, Leanne McCarron, Kelly Murphy, Kaitlyn Schuster, Kelly Stiles, Rebecca Stottlemyer, and Jessica Thomas
Men’s Swimming and Diving
Michael Bernardi, Tommy Bird, Christopher Gallagher, Steve Jackson, Jason Miller, Adam Plutecki, and Chad White
Women’s Swimming and Diving
Shannon Barr, Sophie Cross, Kendra Decelle, Caitlyn Harrington, Ryann Kishbaugh, Collen Kristobak, Agnes Mago, Tiffany Malatesta, Megan McCandless, Erin Meehan, Stacie Safritt, Ruth Seiffert, Andrea Shoust, and Brittany Stevens
Tennis
Kristy Borza, Christie D’Achille, Marie Eanes-Fennelly, Leah Friedman, Sarah Macausland, Jenna Suffoletto, and Sabrina Visram
Men’s Track and Field/Cross Country
Chris Anderson, Sam Bair, Dave Donahoe, Eric Fleming, Kevin Gilpatrick, A.J. Kielinski, Jeff Kiss, Ed Ruiz, Christian Schmidt, Andy Tomaswick, and Josh Zueger
Women’s Track and Field/Cross Country
Nicki Angstadt, Ali Brown, Kendall Butch, Mycaiah Clemons, Candice Coholich, Leah Coveleski, Krystal Epps, Catie Hare, Kari Hedderick, Carolyn Kitchens, Erinn McMahon, Janessa Murphy, Astrid Pilgrim, Nicole Pitchford, Julianna Reed, Kim Rorabaugh, Jenn Seitz, Danielle Tuccio, and Sossena Wood
Women’s Volleyball
Kelly Campbell, Kim Kern, Jessica Moses, Michelle Rossi, and Melissa Stadelman
Wrestling
Kyle Deliere, Joey Ecklof, Brad Gentzle, Mike Heist, Justin Nestor, Nick Orio, Sean Richmond, Zach Sheaffer, John Sutika, Ryan Tomei, and Julian Warshaw