USCAA Announces Fall and Winter National All-Academic Award Winners; 16 Nittany Lions Recognized

By: Frank Maira, Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information Director

NORFOLK, Pa. – The United States Collegiate Athletic Association announced its 2020-21 Fall and Winter National Academic Team earlier in the week and Penn State Mont Alto had 18 student-athletes amongst the 200 athletes across the association that were honored.

In order to earn USCAA National All-Academic Team honors, all student-athletes must have 24 or more credits on their USCAA transcripts and their cumulative grade point average must be a 3.50 or greater to be eligible for the recognition. A full list of the 2020-21 Fall and Winter National All-Academic Award winners can be found here.

Penn State Mont Alto's volleyball team had six student-athletes earn the distinction with Hunter Timmons (Orrstown, Pa. / Cumberland Valley Christian), Alyssa Roberts (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring), Maegan Kopp (Rio Rancho, N.M. / Boiling Springs), Kimmy Harker (Huntingdon, Pa. / Juniata Valley), Kylie Denlinger (Carlisle, Pa. / Carlisle), and Kylee Gooding (Warriors Mark, Pa. / Tyrone Area) leading the way.

For the men's soccer program, they had the sophomore trio of Jack Coulston (Boiling Springs, Pa. / Boiling Springs), Joao Pedro (Sorocaba, Brazil / Colegio Uirapuru) and Scott Stanko Jr. (Biglerville, Pa. / Biglerville) were recognized for the first-time during their athletic careers. The women's soccer program had five honorees including Nicole Jones (Waynesboro, Pa. / Waynesboro Area), Madison Bishop (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring), Courtney Buckley (Bunker Hill, W.Va. / Musselman), MaryAnna Black (Mechanicsburg, Pa. / Cumberland Valley) and Lacey Daum (Bunker Hill, W.Va. / Musselman).

The Mont Alto cross country program had Jacob Geesaman (Waynesboro, Pa. / Waynesboro Area) and Elizabeth Parsons (Shade Gap, Pa. / Commonwealth Charter Academy) recognized on the list for the first-time in their athletic careers.

Madison Bishop (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) was also recognized for her accomplishments on the women's basketball team as she was the lone recipient from the program. The men's basketball team was represented by Cameron Frazier (Dover, Del. / Polytech) and Nathan Osei (Frederick, Md. / Frederick) as they each collected the USCAA honor for the first time.

The USCAA All-Academic Team for spring sports will be announced at the USCAA Small College World Series pretournament luncheon that will take place in May in DuBois, Pa.