ESU Academic Awards page

EAST STROUDSBURG - Graduate student Travis Toth and seniors William Berry and Alex Zubko give East Stroudsburg University three selections to the 2016 Capital One Academic All-District team for men's track and field/cross country, released Thursday.

Berry is a three-time selection to the Academic All-District team. Zubko was mentioned for the second time, and Toth earned his first spot in his final season of eligibility. All three student-athletes advance to the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration.

ESU's 12 Academic All-District selections in 2015-16 are the most in the PSAC. ESU has led or shared the PSAC lead in Academic All-District selections in four of the last nine years - 2007-08, 2008-09, 2010-11 and 2015-16.

Earlier Thursday, Toth earned All-America honors and set the PSAC record in the hammer (206-11) at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in Bradenton, Florida.

Toth (Newfoundland, Pa./Western Wayne), a graduate student in Exercise Science, maintained a 3.86 grade-point average during the fall semester after graduating with a 3.52 GPA.

He capped an impressive final season at ESU with his performance on Thursday at the NCAA Championships, setting the PSAC record and earning his third career All-America honor with a fifth-place finish in the hammer. He won PSAC titles indoors (weight throw) and outdoors (hammer) this season, and was second team All-America indoors with a 10th-place finish in the weight throw in March before earning first team honors outdoors.

Toth finishes his career as a three-time All-America, five-time national qualifier and four-time PSAC champion. He won PSAC titles indoors and outdoors in 2014 before taking a redshirt season in 2015. He was named to the PSAC Winter Top 10 for his performance in indoor track and field in 2016.

Berry (Magnolia, Del./Caesar Rodney) is the 11th ESU student-athlete to earn three Academic All-District honors. An Exercise Science major with a 3.34 GPA, Berry finished his career as a two-time All-America, four-time national qualifier and four-time PSAC champion in the high jump.

He earned All-America second team status indoors with a 12th-place finish, and was PSAC champion both indoors and outdoors as a senior. He holds ESU records indoors (7-0 1/2) and outdoors (6-10 3/4) and hit an NCAA DII provisional qualifying mark in seven of his eight seasons of competition.

Zubko (Dallas, Pa./Dallas), an Exercise Science major with a 3.94 GPA, was an Academic All-America third team selection as a junior last spring. He was the 2015 PSAC Champion Scholar for outdoor track and field as the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the championship site.

As a senior, he was All-PSAC second team in cross country, placing 27th in the conference, and was 33rd at the NCAA DII Atlantic Regional. He was a PSAC qualifier in the 10,000m (32:53.47) in outdoor track and field.

The PSAC claimed 19 of the 20 spots between the men's and women's All-District teams in District 2. Also earning recognition for the men were three athletes from Slippery Rock (Tyler Palenchak, Jeremy Parsons and Jacob VanHouten) along with Caleb Bartlett (Shippensburg), Alex Hampel (IUP) and Morgan Huegel (California).

The PSAC had all 10 spots on the women's side with three from Slippery Rock (Sabrina Anderson, Jenny Picot and Sam Taylor), two from California (Summer Hill and Alex Zanella) and one each from Mansfield (Kelsey Carlsen), Seton Hill (Meagen Carter), Bloomsburg (Kaylee Caruso), Shippensburg (Megan Lundy) and Kutztown (Emma Sullivan).


About the Academic All-District and All-America program

The Academic All-District and Academic All-America teams recognize student-athletes for athletic and academic achievements and are nominated and voted on by members of CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America).

ESU is tied for second in the PSAC with 95 Academic All-District selections in the last nine years (2007-08 through 2015-16).

ESU finished the 2015-16 academic year with 12 Academic All-District selections, the most in the PSAC - Berry, Toth and Zubko; Danielle Ard and Ally Roth (women's at-large - field hockey); Jon Schnaars, Devon Ackerman and Chase May (football); Sammi Ortiz (women's soccer); and Christian Bukowski, Casey Choffy and Jonathan Stuppe (men's soccer).

ESU has two Academic All-America selections so far this year, with Schnaars (wide receiver) and Ackerman (offensive line) both earning first team honors in football.

ESU had five Academic All-America selections in 2014-15 in Bryan Thomson (defensive line, 1st team) and Schnaars (wide receiver, 2nd team) in football; Jay Young (infield, 2nd team) in baseball; Christina O'Connor (1st team) in women's track & field/cross country; and Zubko (2nd team) in men's track & field/cross country.

This marks the fifth year that separate teams have been selected for Division II, Division III and College Division (NAIA/Canadian schools/two-year schools) institutions. The previous "College Division" included all DII, DIII, Canadian and junior college programs.

District 2 of Division II follows the NCAA's regional model and includes all schools from the PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference), Mountain East Conference and CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association). The Northeast-10 Conference is also included in the region for football.

ESU has had 39 student-athletes combine for 55 Academic All-America awards in school history. Twenty-two student-athletes have combined for 32 awards in the last eight years.

At the district level, 94 ESU student-athletes have combined for 136 Academic All-District selections.


ESU's 3-time Academic All-District selections
William Berry, Men's T&F/CC (2014-16)
Brendan McKeown, Men's At-Large/Wrestling (2012-14)
Khriswayne Wallace, Men's Soccer (2011-13)
Eric Boyer, Baseball (2011-13)
Rose Mascoli, Women's T&F/CC (2011-13)
Corinne Fitzgerald, Women's T&F/CC (2011-13)
Trina Carito, Women's T&F/CC (2008, 10-11)
Matt Freed, Football (2008-10)
Kailyn Buckley, Women's Soccer (2008-10)
Danny Drago, Men's Soccer (2007-08, 10)
Katie Horst, Women's At-Large/Field Hockey (1997-99)