PSAC Awards 23 CWPA Student-Athletes as Scholar-Athletes

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) has announced its list of Scholar-Athletes for the 2008-09 season and 23 Collegiate Water Polo Association student-athletes from Gannon University and Mercyhurst College have earned recognition.

To earn PSAC Scholar-Athlete distinction, student-athletes must compile a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.25 for the year.  Although the PSAC does not sponsor water polo, all varsity student-athletes at PSAC member institutions are eligible for Scholar-Athlete honors allowing CWPA student-athletes to be eligible for inclusion on the team similar to athletes at Princeton University, Harvard University and Brown University being eligible for Ivy League academic honors.

The awards mark the first PSAC honors earned by any Gannon or Mercyhurst student-athlete as the pair of insitutions joined the league prior to the 2008-09 season. 

Comprised of 16-full time institutions (Bloomsburg University, California University of Pennsylvania, Cheyney University, Clarion University, East Stroudsburg University, Edinboro University, Gannon, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown University, Lock Haven University, Mansfield University, Mercyhurst, Millersville University, Shippensburg University, Slippery Rock University, West Chester University) and associate member Long Island University-C.W. Post, all of the league’s full-time members are located within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which makes the PSAC the largest one-state conference in the NCAA. The league has also grown to share the distinctions as: The largest conference in Division II, the largest football-playing conference in the NCAA, and, with 23, the conference that sponsors the most championships at the Division II level.

Although all 16 current institutions are members of Division II, eight league schools also compete at the Division I level in select sports. PSAC schools enroll over 118,000 students and claim over 670,000 alumni, including 430,000 who reside in Pennsylvania.

The PSAC is governed by the presidents of the 16 member institutions. It employs a commissioner, two assistant commissioners and a director of media relations at its headquarters in Lock Haven, Pa.