ELMHURST, Ill. - South Dakota State baseball player John Lee (Mason City, Iowa) and Southern Utah women's cross country and track & field athlete Sharla Manuele (Newcastle, Utah) have been selected as the 2009-10 Summit League Scholar-Athletes of the Year in a vote by the league's faculty athletic representatives. The Summit League Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award is the most prestigious individual honor given by the league.
Lee graduated from South Dakota State in May with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.902 and a degree in chemistry. He earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team honors this season, along with being named to The Summit League's All-Academic Team and Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence. As a Jackrabbit Scholar Athlete, Lee was also named honorable mention for the Outstanding Senior Award presented by the American Chemical Society. He is an active member of Habitat for Humanity and the Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Lambda Upsilon honor societies. An Arete Scholarship receipient, Lee helped a chemistry research group write an article that was published in the journal "Analytica Chimica Acta" last fall.
On the field, Lee finished second in the league and was tops on the Jackrabbit squad with a .399 average from 91 hits in 59 games. He ranked third in The Summit League with 74 runs scored, collecting 61 RBI. A first team All-Summit League selection as a rightfielder this season, Lee recorded a .627 slugging percentage and .470 on-base percentage, while collecting 22 walks against 19 strikeouts. Defensively, he had just one error for a .991 fielding percentage, along with registering two outfield assists. Lee also belted nine home runs, while registering 21 doubles and two triples this year.
A Summa Cum Laude graduate, Manuele earned her nursing degree from Southern Utah after compiling a 3.84 GPA. She was named to the Dean's List the last six semesters, along with being recognized as an outstanding student by the nursing department. SUU also awarded her the Outstanding Student-Athlete Academic Award for the 2009-10 school year. With her nursing background, Manuele has volunteered with numerous health service activities in the Cedar City community regarding H1N1 prevention, scoliosis and vision screenings. She has volunteered and helped run high school cross country and track & field meets for the past five years, along with working at the Utah Summer Games.
Manuele was named The Summit League Cross Country Athlete of the Year after collecting Championship MVP and first team all-league honors. During the 2009 season, she earned the league's Athlete of the Week award four times and recorded three individual first-place finishes. Her Summit League Championships time of 21:50.00 helped the Thunderbirds win the title. Manuele posted the league's top 5k (17:09) and 6k (21:16.5) times and recorded a 22nd-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Mountain Regional. During the indoor track & field season, Manuele was named an All-American by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Assocation after placing 16th (4:54.15) at the NCAA Championships in the mile run. She was named The Summit League's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year after collecting the top times in the league in both the mile (4:39.82) and 3,000-meter run (9:25.21) this season. The Utah native was also named the Outdoor Track Championship MVP after setting a new meet record with a time of 16:47.65 in the 5,000-meter run and placing first in the 1,500-meter run (4:27.95).
Also nominated for the Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year award: Quinn Larwood, Centenary, swimming & diving; Ben Botts, IPFW, basketball; Eric Weigman, IUPUI, soccer; John Bayron Sosa, UMKC; soccer; Ted Rud, North Dakota State, track & field; Zack Jones, Oakland, cross country/track & field; Kevin Sandall, Southern Utah, cross country/track & field; Cole Waddell, Western Illinois, baseball.
Also nominated for the Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year award: Jessica Brown, Centenary, cross country/swimming & diving; Alexandra Okihiro, IPFW, soccer; Katrina McCrory, IUPUI, soccer; Jamie Hagerman, UMKC, volleyball; Melissa Chmielewski, North Dakota State, softball; Agnieszka Solan, Oakland, swimming & diving; Rachel Talbert, Oral Roberts, track & field; Ashley Storm, South Dakota State, cross country/track & field; Lori Pankratz, Western Illinois, softball.
