Four University of Albany Great Danes Earn America East Conference Scholar-Athlete Honors - UAlbany Sports 2009

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Cambridge, Mass. – Four UAlbany student-athletes earned America East Conference Scholar-Athlete honors, as announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon. Meagan Butsch (softball), Valete Graham (men’s outdoor track and field), Garrett Pedley (men’s lacrosse) and Jessica Signorelli (golf) were all named the top scholar-athletes for their respective sports for the 2008-09 winter/spring season.

Butsch, the 2009 America East co-player of the year, was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I Second team as a senior and was a two-time member of the conference’s all-academic team. A member of the UAlbany Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, she was an all-conference first-team selection for the second straight season and was named to the all-championship team for the third consecutive year. Butsch, an NFCA All-Northeast Region and All-ECAC first team honoree, broke the school record for career home runs with 31 after hitting a program-best 16 this season. She is ranked on several UAlbany career record charts and helped lead the Great Danes to four straight America East Championship game appearances. Butsch posted a 3.40 cumulative grade point average in biology.

Graham was a member of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team and the America East all-academic team during both the indoor and outdoor seasons as a junior. Also a member of the 2008 USTFCCCA Division I Men’s All-Academic Team, Graham has been an America East Commissioner’s Honor Roll member throughout his career. He has helped lead the Great Danes to three America East titles as well as the first IC4A championship by any league institution. Graham, a three-time all-conference selection and two-time reigning champion in the long jump, broke the school record in the long jump this year with a leap of 24-feet, 9.25-inches. A 2009 All-East selection in the long jump who missed qualifying for NCAA nationals by one centimeter, Graham recorded a 3.69 GPA with a major in psychology and minor in business administration.

Pedley, a two-time member of the America East All-Academic Lacrosse Team, was one of just 30 senior men’s lacrosse players nationally to be a candidate for the Lowe’s Senior Class Award. A member of the UAlbany Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, he was the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member chosen to represent UAlbany at the America East SAAC meeting. Pedley has participated in many community service projects, including founding a charity golf tournament in New Hampshire that benefits college scholarships. Athletically, Pedley was named to the 2009 America East first team, earning all-conference honors for the second time in his career. A team captain as a senior, he posted a 3.21 GPA in business administration with a minor in communication.

Signorelli helped lead UAlbany to the 2009 America East Conference Golf Championship, the Great Danes’ second title in as many years. A member of the UAlbany Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, she was a two-time member of the league’s All-Academic Golf Team and earned America East Commissioner’s Honor Roll accolades in 2008. Signorelli finished tied for third at this season’s championship with a two-round score of 161. A member of SAAC, she recorded a 3.77 GPA with a major in communication and a minor in accounting.

A committee of athletic administrators and NCAA Faculty Athletics Representatives chose an honoree in each of the 15 winter/spring championship sports. Each America East Scholar-Athlete was a starter or prominent reserve and carries a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.20. Each scholar-athlete will join the six Fall Scholar-Athletes to make up the ballot for the America East Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, which will be named in July.