By: Michael MacEachern
Assistant Director of Athletics for Sports Communications
WESTLAKE, Ohio | Sixty-two Young Harris College student-athletes have been recognized by the Division 2 Athletics Directors Association with their D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award.
It is the highest total for the Mountain Lions in the program's history.
Young Harris had 22 repeat honorees, including four -
John Lichtenwalner (men's golf),
Haylie Shope (softball),
Leigh Anne Turner (women's lacrosse) and
Biz Walters (softball) - who were recognized for a third time.
Erica Andersson (women's golf),
John Brett (men's tennis)
Zach Burns (baseball),
Morgan Curley (softball),
Eduardo D'Avino (men's soccer),
Sam Davis (softball),
Jing Dong (women's tennis),
Hannah Emerson (softball),
Alex Gschwend (men's soccer),
Mark Guevara (men's soccer),
Katelynn Hodges (softball),
Adam Kirkwood (men's soccer),
Ali Koller (men's soccer),
Ala Ramadan (men's soccer),
Rachel Robb (women's lacrosse),
Yesin van der Pluijm (men's soccer),
Pien Van Kampen (women's soccer) and
Chase Webb (baseball) each received the award for the second consecutive year.
Men's soccer led the way with 12 student-athletes, while softball and women's lacrosse had 10 apiece. Women's soccer added six, while men's tennis had five. Baseball had four student-athletes, while women's tennis, men's cross country, and women's basketball had three each. Women's golf and men's golf each had two earn the award, while women's cross country and volleyball had one each.
The Academic Achievement Awards, in its 14th year, is a program that recognizes the academic accomplishments of student-athletes at the Division II level. In total, there were 16,164 student-athletes from 187 institutions being recognized for the 2020-21 Academic Achievement Awards. It was the largest number of student-athletes being nominated since the award program's inception. The Peach Belt Conference had 508 student-athletes earn the Academic Achievement Award.
To receive the Academic Achievement Award, the student-athlete must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale, have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college level work, and have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year.
Below are the 62 student-athletes from Young Harris that received the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award:
