Skeens finishes with keen season at Augustana
Former Vernon Hills standout Brianna Skeens ended her collegiate career in style.
The senior middle hitter wrapped up a fine career at Augustana by being named the Vikings’ Most Valuable Player for the recently concluded 2011 season.
Skeens, one of three captains for second-year head coach Jamie Walters, was one of the top offensive weapons this fall.
She led the Vikings in total kills with 331 and her kills-per-game average of 2.98 (331 kills in 111 games) was also tops.
In addition, her kill percentage of .220 (331 kills with 137 errors in 881 total attempts) was the highest on the Augustana team. Skeens also had the second-highest block-per-game average of 0.68 with 76 total blocks (24 solo & 52 assists) in 111 games.
She ended the year in sixth place in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin in kills with an average of 3.08 in league games only (77 in 25 games). She also had a single match performance of 27 kills on October 22 against Carroll that was the 10th best single match performance in Augustana history.
Ÿ Freshman defensive specialist Amber Dalgaard (Antioch) shared the Most Improved Player award for Augustana. Dalgaard saw action in 39 games and recorded a total of 45 digs (1.15 per game average).
Men’s soccer
Former Lake Zurich standout Nick Janus enjoyed a superb second season for the Wisconsin’s men’s soccer team.
Starting in all 20 games and playing more than 1,600 minutes, Janus helped the Badgers to their first 10 win season since 2003.
He scored 3 goals and had 3 assists this fall. Janus was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week in early October.
Janus was also named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week, the CS360 Primetime Performers Weekly Honor Roll, Soccer America Men’s Team of the Week and the Big Ten All-Tournament Team.
Janus was one of only three Big Ten soccer players named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team.
Women’s volleyball
Senior middle blocker Margaret Salata was named the Female Athlete of he Fall for North Carolina State by the school’s student newspaper.
Salata led the Wolfpack in kills and blocks with 164, which is an improvement by 60 over her junior season. Salata was also a leader statistically in the conference, finishing her career ranked third in the ACC in hitting percentage, ninth in kills and fourth in points.
She also held her own on the defensive side of the net, ranking third in blocks in the conference. Salata was also named to the All-ACC Team this season and received a conference Player of the Week award.
Football
Seven North Central College football players, including defensive tackle Peter Bulandr (Stevenson) are among the 75 individuals honored with selections to the 2011 NCAA Division III All-North Region Teams, as selected by D3football.com.
Bulandr, the 2011 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Defensive Player of the Year, ranked first on the team and second in the CCIW in quarterback sacks (7.5). He was a two-time D3football.com Team of the Week selection and was one of 10 nationwide finalists for the Gagliardi Trophy, the premier individual award in Division III football.
He was a first team All-CCIW selection.
The Cardinals’ seven All-Region selections match the 2008 squad for the most North Central has received in a single season since D3football.com began selecting All-Region teams in 2005.
Each player who is selected to an All-Region Team is eligible for All-America honors. D3football.com will announce this season’s All-America selections on Friday, Dec. 16 as part of its pregame broadcast for the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.
Scholarship program
The National Sporting Goods Association has launched a college scholarship program to help establish sporting goods as a preferred employment destination for top students across the country who currently, or in the past, have worked for an NSGA member retailer or team dealer.
Applicants must have a top GPA, and provide both an official college transcript and a letter of recommendation from a representative of an NSGA member company. Preference will be given to students interested in a sporting goods retailing or team dealer career.
“We’re creating this program to help recognize some of the young employees that are integral parts of our retailer and team dealer members,” said NSGA President & CEO, Matt Carlson. “Our goal is to financially assist award winners during their college years so they consider sporting goods as their industry of choice upon graduation.”
For its inaugural year, the application deadline is January 27, 2012, and recipients will be notified in early March.
A committee of NSGA members will review the candidates and choose the scholarship recipients, who will be announced in NSGA communication vehicles leading into the 2012 NSGA Management Conference & Team Dealer Summit.
Applications are now available on the NSGA website — www.nsga.org/collegescholarship — and more information may be obtained by contacting NSGA Director of Strategic Planning & Education, Chuck Suritz, by emailing csuritz@nsga.org, or by calling (847) 296-6742, ext. 130.
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