Friday, November 22, 2002

TEN TUFTS ATHLETES NAMED TO FALL NESCAC ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM

MEDFORD -- Ten fall sport athletes from Tufts University were honored by the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) for their athletic and academic achievements by being named to the conference's All-Academic team.  The team is comprised of five men and five women from each of the eleven NESCAC schools.  Each student must have at least a 3.35 grade point average, be of sophomore academic standing, and be a starter or significant contributor to their team.

Eight Tufts teams placed athletes on the All-Academic team.  From the Sailing squad, senior co-captains Caroline Hall (Tiverton, RI/Moses Brown) and Pete Levesque (Falmouth, ME/Tabor Academy) were honored.  Hall and Levesque, both mechanical engineering majors, sailed together frequently.  They helped Tufts to a first place finish at the Hood Trophy on September 28-29 as the duo took first place in the A division with 38 points.  The two seniors also took first in the A division, along with freshman Dave Siegal, in the Professor Schell Trophy at MIT on November 2-3 in which Tufts took second overall.

The only other team to place two athletes on the All-Academic team was Men's Soccer.  Senior tri-captain Matt MacGregor (Little Compton, RI/Middletown) and junior Brian Mikel (Tucson, AZ/Canyon del Oro), both midfielders, were honored.  MacGregor, an international relations and history major, was recently named to the Verizon Academic All-Region Team.  He was also named to the All-NESCAC Second Team after finishing second on the team in scoring with five goals and five assists for 15 points.  Mikel, an international relations and spanish major, was recently named to the All-NESCAC First Team after recording one goal and three assists for five points.  He is the center of the team's offense at midfield.

Economics and Political Science major Dan Kramer (Los Angeles, CA/Winward School) of the Golf team helped the Jumbo to an excellent season this year.  The senior finished fifteenth overall at the NESCAC championships, where Tufts placed third as a team.  He also finished 115th in the ECAC Championships, which also includes teams from Divisions I and II, as the Jumbos finished in 15th place out of 47 teams. Senior running back Chuck McGraw (Wadena, MN/Wadena-Deer Creek) of the Football team also was honored.  A biology major, McGraw led the team in rushing this season with 541 total yards.  He was recently named to the Verizon Northeast Region All-Academic Team.

Senior co-captain Mary Nodine (Portland, ME/Portland) of the Women's Cross Country team placed in the Tufts top five in all but one race this season.  The civil engineering major's best showing was at the NCAA New England Regional Championship Race on November 16, when she finished 61st overall and second for Tufts with a time of 23:15.  The team finished in 13th place out of 38 teams.  Sophomore Rebecca Schaevitz (San Rafael, CA/Branson School) of the Volleyball team helped her team to a 20-13 record in Head Coach Cora Thompson's first year at the helm.  Schaevitz, an electrical engineering major, made an important transition this year from setter to outside hitter, finishing sixth on the team with 61 kills.  She also was second in assists with 50 and tied for third in service aces with 19, playing an excellent all-around role for the Jumbos.

Senior co-captain Alle Sharlip (Kentfield, CA/Branson School) led a Women's Soccer team that returned to the NCAA tournament for the third time in the past five years.  The psychology major also added one goal and two assists to a team that lost a heart-breaking 1-0 game to Keene State in the second round of the NCAA tournament to finish 13-4-1 overall.  Field Hockey senior tri-captain Ursula Stahl (Longmeadow, MA/Longmeadow) anchored a defense that allowed only 1.41 goals per game against NESCAC opponents.  The economics major helped preserve four shutouts on the year for the Jumbos, including three against NESCAC opponents.

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