ECAC Announces Six Scholar-Athlete Award Winners

CAPE COD, Mass. - Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Commissioner Rudy Keeling announced today the six recipients of the ECAC Scholar-Athlete Awards. The ECAC 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 Scholar-Athlete Awards are Jill Davis (La Salle University) and Jeff Spear (Columbia University) in Division I, Kyrie Timbrook (Caldwell College) and Gregory Malen (Southern Connecticut State University) in Division II, and Kerrin Epstein (Gettysburg College) and Scott Desmond (Clarkson University) in Division III. They will receive their awards on Tuesday, September 28, during the ECAC Honors Banquet presented by Jostens. The luncheon will be held at The Resort and Conference Center in Hyannis, Massachusetts during the 2010 ECAC Fall Convention and Trade Show.

Davis, who plays attack for the La Salle women’s lacrosse team, posted a perfect 4.0 grade point average in elementary education. On the field, she was a first team Atlantic 10 selection and led the conference in game-winning goals with four. Davis led the Explorers in goals (40), assists (14), and points. She helped the Explorers to a program-best No. 2 seed in the 2010 Atlantic 10 Tournament. With 100 career goals, Davis ranks sixth all-time in scoring at La Salle. Including this ECAC award, Davis has received six postseason scholar-athlete honors this year. She was recently named the Philadelphia Inquirer All-Area Women's Lacrosse Performer of the Year. She earned a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American nod, becoming the first La Salle women's lacrosse player to do so. Davis was also named the A-10 Student-Athlete of the Year in women's lacrosse, IWLCA Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the La Salle University Scholar Athlete of the Year. Off the field, she is a tutor at Logan Elementary School, and has volunteered at Special Olympics lacrosse clinics at Logan Elementary School. In addition, she volunteered at an autism conference at La Salle, and has done charitable work at a local church.

Spear, a member of the Columbia men’s fencing team, was the 2010 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Men’s At-Large Academic All-American of the Year. An evolutionary biology of human species major with a 4.07 grade point average, Spear is a three-time All-American who also earned first team All-Ivy League honors three times. He received the 2010 NCAA Elite 88 award for fencing, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 88 championships. The 2008 NCAA champion, Spear finished seventh at the NCAA Championship this year and took second place at the regional. Spear completed his career with a 143-46 record in sabre. He is a two-time Intercollegiate Fencing Association gold medalist and was awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship this year. He is the only repeat selection on the 2010 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Men’s At-Large University Division first team. Spear graduated from Columbia College in May as the class salutatorian, and is the first Columbia student-athlete to be named Academic All-America of the Year in any category. Outside of athletics, he has volunteered his time to help out with Thanksgiving food baskets at local shelters, and is part of the Leaders for Life program in the athletics department. 

Timbrook, a first baseman for the Caldwell College women’s softball team, is receiving the ECAC Scholar-Athlete Award for the second consecutive year. The only other repeat winner in the history of the award is former Connecticut basketball star Rebecca Lobo, who was honored in 1994 and 1995. Timbrook has been chosen as the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the CACC Woman of the Year. She graduated from Caldwell in May with a bachelor's degree in communications, and a 3.69 GPA. She was included on both the Daktronics and NFCA All-America first teams and also made the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America second team. Timbrook also earned a spot on the CACC All-Academic Team for the third time. Prior to being named a consensus All-American, she was chosen the CACC Player of the Year and a first team All-Region performer. Timbrook made her third All-CACC first team after leading the conference in batting (.449), runs batted in (68) and hits (80). This year, she set single-season school records for RBI, hits, doubles (22), and total bases (132) while tying classmate Danielle Genovese for the home run mark with 10. Nationally, Timbrook ranked 21st in batting average, 16th in RBI, 17th in doubles and ninth in toughest to strikeout, fanning just five times in 178 at-bats. An excellent defensive player at first base, she committed just two errors in 500 chances for a .996 fielding percentage. For her career, she batted .360 with 211 hits, 49 doubles, 16 home runs and 148 RBI in 211 games to rank third all-time at Caldwell in hits, second in RBI, fourth in doubles, fourth in total bases (306), fifth in homers and ninth in batting average. Timbrook helped the Cougars finish the 2010 season 42-16, tie for the CACC regular-season title and advance to the NCAA East Region Tournament for the sixth time in the last seven years. Off the field, Timbrook was active in the Caldwell Student Athlete Advisory Committee, working on numerous projects such as raising money for the children of St. Jude’s Hospital, serving soup at St. Augustine’s Soup Kitchen, and working several softball clinics. She participated in a Midnight Run in New York City, handing out sandwiches, coffee and hot chocolate to the homeless, and volunteered at the Caldwell Farmers Market by distributing cider and donuts. For the past three years, Timbrook handed out candy for local stores on Bloomfield Avenue and helped ensure a safe Halloween for local trick-or-treaters, and traveled to a local nursing home to serve Thanksgiving Dinner to senior citizens.

Malen, a second baseman for the Southern Connecticut State baseball team, graduated with a degree in marketing and a 3.77 GPA. Malen was selected as a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine first team Academic All-District honoree, and was named to the Northeast-10 Conference Baseball All-Academic Team. The 2009-10 SCSU Male Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Malen started 49 games for the Owls (38-13-1), who finished the year ranked No. 20 in the NCBWA national poll, No. 2 in New England, No. 2 in the region and won the Northeast-10 Conference regular season title. SCSU also reached the finals of the NCAA East Regional. Malen led the Owls and ranked third in the Northeast-10 Conference in stolen bases (17) this season. He sported a .315 batting average, good for third on the team, along with a .387 on-base percentage. Malen also scored 28 runs and drove in 18 runs on the year. Off the field, he assisted at the “Friends of Rudolph” event on campus which benefits New Haven children, and participated in a tutoring program at Beecher School in New Haven. He has volunteered at St. Ann’s Soup Kitchen in Hamden, and participated in canned food drives and clothing drives to benefit area residents. In addition, he has served as a clinician at the Wallingford Boys and Girls’ Club Sports Night event and assisted in events benefiting youngsters at the Keefe Community Center in Hamden.

Epstein, a distance-running standout at Gettysburg College, graduated with a 4.01 GPA as an English and political science double major. Following the cross country season, she was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, given to only 29 female student-athletes across all three NCAA divisions who compete in fall sports. A three-time selection to the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Team, Epstein has been accepted into law school at the University of Maryland. She is a member of the Pre-Law Honor Society, the English Honor Society, and Phi Beta Kappa. She was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country Team. It was the second Academic All-America honor for Epstein, who was also a third-team selection in 2009, when she became the first female cross country/track & field Academic All-American in school history. Epstein, who was also a three-time Academic All-District selection, kicked off a stellar senior season during cross country season, when she became the seventh runner in program history to qualify for the national championships after finishing third at the NCAA Mideast Regional, good for her third-straight all-region award. She went on to place 54th among 279 runners at the NCAA Division III Championships. She also captured All-Centennial Conference honors for the fourth year in a row by finishing fifth at the conference championships to earn first team accolades for the second straight season. Earlier in the year, Epstein helped the Bullets into the national rankings for two weeks, their first since 1992. Epstein continued to run well in track season, starting with an indoor campaign in which she broke the school record (5:13.70) in the mile. At the Centennial Conference Championships, she earned the bronze in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in 10:27.35 and missing the school record by less than a second, took fifth in the mile, and helped the distance-medley relay team place second. During the outdoor season, she set the school record (10:24.39) in the 3,000 at the Shippensburg Invitational before running a NCAA provisional-qualifying time and PR of 37:26.90 in the 10,000, good for a third-place finish, at the Centennial Conference Championships. She also scored additional points for the Bullets by taking seventh in the 1,500-meter run and eighth in the 5,000-meter run. Epstein finished the year ranked 46th nationally in the 10,000. Off the track, she has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, contributing to the construction of houses and landscaping for low income families in the Gettysburg community, and has served as treasurer for the group. In addition, she has helped organize fundraisers for the St. Jude’s Up ‘Til Dawn program and made Thanksgiving baskets for families throughout the community.

Desmond, a rising senior midfielder on the Clarkson men’s soccer team, has posted a 3.82 GPA through his first three years while majoring in interdisciplinary engineering and management. A three-year team captain, Desmond was named ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA District I first team Academic All-American in 2009 after earning second team honors in 2008. He was picked as the Liberty League Rookie of the Year in 2007 and was named a second team All-Liberty League selection in 2008 and 2009. The President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Desmond participated in the 2009 NCAA National Student-Athlete Development Conference. A member of Tau Beta Pi, the honorary engineering society, Desmond is also a current Rhodes Scholar applicant. He also has run or participated in numerous community service activities including “Make a Child Smile,” community food drives, Special Olympics Awareness Day, “Relay for Life,” 5K for Cystic Fibrosis, and several other charity events.


About the ECAC^®
The ECAC is the nation’s largest athletic and the only multi-divisional conference in the country with approximately 300 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 80 championships in 37 men’s and women’s sports and assigns more than 4,400 officials in 12 sports. The ECAC also administers nine affiliate sports organizations and six playing leagues, and through the public relations arm of the conference, more than 2,500 student-athletes 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.


About Jostens
The Minneapolis-based Jostens is a provider of products, programs and services that help people tell their stories, celebrate important traditions and recognize achievements. Jostens' products include school yearbooks and other memory book products, scholastic products such as class rings and graduation products, and products for athletic champions and their fans.