NEAC Recognizes Record Number of Nittany Lions

The North Eastern Athletic Conference honored 27 Penn State Abington scholar-athletes for the 2012-13 academic year.

In order to be selected, a student athlete must achieve a combined grade point average of 3.4 or higher for the fall and spring semesters and must have been in good standing on his or her team.

This year, the NEAC honored a bit more than 500 scholar-athletes from its 16 member institutions; the students represent 26 states and 17 countries.

The 27 honorees were the most in Penn State Abington history; last year, the school had 22.

There were at least two scholar-athletes from each of the 13 varsity sports provided by Abington. Softball and men's cross country led the way with four recipients each; followed by women's tennis and women's lacrosse with three.

See the full list below.

• Mohannad Abdulrahman, men's cross country, Philadelphia, Northeast High School

• Dylan Amin, men's Golf, Langhorne, Neshaminy

• Leah Brown, women's volleyball, Southampton, William Tennent

• Sandy Cao, women's Lacrosse, Philadelphia, Northeast

• Mike Colacci, men's basketball, Middlesex, N.J.; Middlesex 

• Christopher Cothran, men's cross country, n/a

• Melissa Craig, softball, Westville, N.J.; Gateway Regional

• Cara Fiala, softball, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Academy

• Sascha Gidron, men's soccer, Madrid, Spain; American School of Madrid

• Desirae Holmes, women's soccer, Philadelphia, St. Hubert

• Jacqualyn Horbury, women's cross country, Philadelphia, Franklin Towne

• Alex Kane, men's cross country

• Tori Kimberly, women's lacrosse, Doylestown, CB West

• Harry Kohn, men's cross country, Merion, Lower Merion

• Jessica McGarrity, softball, Croydon, Conwell Egan

• Alexandra Murianka, women's tennis, Philadelphia, St. Basil Academy

• Ahmad Mustafa, men's soccer, n/a

• Maria Narodestsky, women's volleyball, n/a

• Lori Phillips, women's tennis, Philadelphia, Central

• Carly Powell, women's tennis, San Antonio, Texas; CB West

• Jessica Schmidt, women's basketball, n/a

• Ted Smallwood, baseball, Athens, N.Y.; Albany Academy

• Sarah Snyder-Kamen, women's lacrosse, New Hope, New Hope-Solebury

• Dan Steinberg, men's tennis, Glenside, Cheltenham High School

• Faith Sykes, women's cross country, Harleysville, Souderton

• Ken Watson, men's basketball, Philadelphia, Northeast

• Carly Wenderlich, softball, Bristol, Conwell Egan