ECAC Announces Six Robbins Scholar-Athlete Award Winners
CAPE COD, Mass. - Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Commissioner Rudy Keeling announced today the six recipients of the ECAC Robbins Scholar-Athlete Awards. Sponsored by the Cincinnati-based sports surfaces company, the Robbins Scholar-Athlete Awards honor the outstanding academic and athletic achievements of student-athletes representing ECAC schools in Divisions I, II, and III. One male and one female student-athlete from each division are selected based on extraordinary achievements in academics, athletics, and community service.
This year's winners of the ECAC Robbins Scholar-Athlete Awards
are Sue Weber (Hofstra) and Jeff Grantham (St. John's University)
in Division I, Dely Francisco (Adelphi University) and Steve
Dagostino (The College of St. Rose) in Division II, and Ashley
VanVechten (University of Rochester) and Michael Hoffman (Stevens
Institute of Technology) in Division III. They will receive their
awards on Sunday, September 28, at the ECAC Convention Honors
Dinner at the Albany Crowne Plaza.
Weber, a defender on the Hofstra women's soccer team, was a
two-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)
All-American and a three-time first team All-Colonial Athletic
Association (CAA) selection. A three-time CAA Defensive Player of
the Year and two-time CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, she
led Hofstra to its first two conference titles and NCAA
appearances, including a spot in the second round in 2007. Her
academic accomplishments are equally impressive. A first team
College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)/ESPN
The Magazine Academic All-American, Weber was also the CAA
Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for all sports. A two-time CAA
women's soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year, she was a first team
National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Scholar
All-American. A physical education major with a 3.90 GPA, she was
also one of 20 finalists nationally for the Lowe's Senior CLASS
Award. She has volunteered for Special Olympics, at a soup kitchen
at her local church, and at numerous soccer clinics.
Grantham, a shortstop on the St. John's baseball team, posted a
3.97 GPA in physics. 
He earned first team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic
All-America honors for the second straight year. A team co-captain,
Grantham hit .343 with a team-best .469 on-base percentage and
earned third team All-BIG EAST accolades. A member of Chi Alpha
Sigma, the Scholar-Athlete National Honor Society, and Phi Eta
Sigma, the Freshman National Honor Society, Grantham was also
selected to the Dean's List and Athletic Director's Honor Roll
every semester. Off the diamond, he is one of 25 senior class
members of the St. John's University President's Society, the
highest honor a St. John's student can receive. He has volunteered
at the St. Nick's Men's Homeless Shelter, and is a member of the
Student Athlete Advisory Committee.
Francisco, an outfielder on the Adelphi softball team, was a
first team All-East 
Coast Conference (ECC) selection and a two-time ECC Softball
Scholar Athlete of the Year (2006 and 2008). She hit .389 with two
home runs and 19 RBI over 62 games, and was 12th in the nation in
stolen bases, safely stealing 51 of 55 attempts. A 2008
Daktronics All-Region selection, she was also a CoSIDA/ESPN The
Magazine Academic All-America first team All-District
selection. Francisco holds the Adelphi single season records for at
bats (216), runs scored (51), hits (84), and stolen bases (51) and
is the career leader in stolen bases (92). A physical education
major with a 3.91 GPA, Francisco won the Jay B. Nash Outstanding
Major Award in 2007, given to the top physical education major in
New York state. Off the field, she has volunteered with the Walk
for Autism and the Games for the Physically Challenged. Francisco
has been a Student Athlete Advisory Committee executive board
member since 2004, and an Excel mentor, assisting incoming freshmen
in adjusting to the first year college experience.
Dagostino, a guard on The College of St. Rose men's basketball
team, had a 3.83 GPA in 
accounting and led his team to three straight NCAA Tournament
appearances. A two-time Northeast-10 Player of the Year, Dagostino
is one of only five players in league history to win the award in
back-to-back seasons. Chosen as the ECAC Division II Player of the
Year, he is the only player in St. Rose history to amass 1,500
points, 500 assists and 200 steals. A two-time CoSIDA/ESPN The
Magazine first team Academic All-American, he was named the
NE-10 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year (all sports). He led the
NE-10 in steals (2.52 spg), ranked second in assists (5.90 apg),
third in scoring (18.3 ppg), and fourth in free throw percentage
(.888). Nationally, he was eighth in free throw percentage,
14th in steals, and 18th in assists. He was
selected to the College Basketball Invitational that included 65 of
the top college players from Divisions II, III and NAIA, and then
was one of 20 players selected to the CBI All-Star game. Off the
court, he was part of a group of players from the CBI that visited
local elementary schools.
VanVechten, a defender on the University of Rochester women's
soccer team, earned a 
3.7 GPA in history and German and received a Fulbright Scholarship
and an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship. She will spend the next year
in Germany as an English teaching assistant in a secondary school
while continuing her study of the German language and history.
VanVechten has already studied abroad twice, first in Berlin in
2006 and then in Ghana in 2007, teaching math and science. On the
pitch, she was a first team All-University Athletic Association
(UAA) defender during each of her four seasons, and a three-time
All-American, including a spot on the first team as a sophomore and
junior. A CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine second team Academic
All-American, VanVechten was named to the NSCAA Scholar All-America
team twice. In May of 2008, she was named the University of
Rochester's top senior female athlete. She has coached youth soccer
for the past eight years, and volunteered at the Mount Hope Family
Center in the community.
Hoffman, a middle distance runner at Stevens, boasts a 3.98 GPA in biomedical engineering. Over the course of his career, he has set 27 school records. A 2006 Skyline All-Conference selection in cross country, Hoffman was an ECAC Indoor Track qualifier in the 4 x 800 relay in 2007 and the 800 meters in 2008. At the 2007 ECAC Outdoor Track Championship, he qualified in the 800 meters and the 4 x 400 relay. A 2007 second team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, Hoffman ranked No. 7 in his senior class. A 2007 Empire 8 Presidents' List selection, Hoffman was named the 2008 Empire 8 Senior Scholar-Athlete. Off the track, he attended the 2006 NCAA/CHAMPS National Leadership Conference, and volunteered at Light the Night community service. His senior design project was on a new type of testing for diabetes.
About the ECAC®
The ECAC is the nation's largest athletic and the only
multi-divisional conference in the country with 321 Divisions I,
II, and III colleges and universities. The ECAC stretches
from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Illinois. Established
in 1938, the ECAC, a non-profit service organization, sponsors more
than 100 championships in 37 men's and women's sports and assigns
more than 4,400 officials in 12 sports. The ECAC also
administers eight affiliate sports organizations and six playing
leagues, and through the public relations arm of the conference,
more than 2,500 student-athletes in 23 sports are recognized
annually. Finally, the ECAC serves as the primary conference
for select members in the sports of men's and women's ice hockey
and men's lacrosse.
