NDSU's Winkelman, WIU's Rapp Scholar Athletes of Year
ELMHURST,
Ill. − North
Dakota State men's basketball player Brett
Winkelman (Morris, Minn.) and Western Illinois women's
soccer player Bess Rapp (Lincoln, Neb.) have been
selected as the 2007-08 Summit League Scholar-Athletes of the Year
in a vote of 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.
Winkelman, a
junior, has a 3.86 GPA in industrial engineering and management. A
two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American®, he has been on the
Dean's List every semester and was named Academic All-Summit League
and to the Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence during the
2007-08 school year. Winkelman has served on The Summit League
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for the past two years
and was NDSU's athlete representative on the Division I Athletic
Certification Committee and Student-Athlete Welfare
Subcommittee.
On the
court, Winkelman averaged 19.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game en
route to being selected first team All-Summit last season. A
two-time Summit League Player of the Week, he was The Summit League
Male Athlete of the Month for December. A team captain in 2007-08,
Winkelman has been named to several all-tournament teams in his
three years as a Bison. He was also a three-time Division I
independent Newcomer of the Week as a freshman and a two-time
Division I independent Player of the Week during his sophomore
campaign. He was named to the All-Independent first team following
the 2006-07 season.
A summa
cum laude graduate of WIU with a degree in marketing, Rapp was
named to the Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence three
times, to the Academic All-League team all four years and to the
CoSIDA Academic All-District Team in 2007. She was a four-year
member of SAAC, serving as secretary, vice president and president
during three of those years. She also served as the Director of
Public Relations for WIU's Student Government Association and was
selected as a marshal for graduation ceremonies in May. In
addition, Rapp was named the 2008 Outstanding Senior in the Western
Illinois marketing/finance department, the 2008 Spring Departmental
Scholar in marketing and was on the Dean's List all four years. She
received the Provost's Student-Athlete Academic Excellence Award
for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years, earned two business
scholarships and was a member of three professional honor
societies. Rapp also did volunteer work with WAVE (Western's All
Volunteer Effort), the Special Olympics, the Women's Basketball
Coaches Association's Think Pink initiative and was an after-school
tutor for elementary school students during her four years at
Western Illinois.
Rapp
concluded her soccer career at Western Illinois ranked third
all-time in shots (116), fourth in assists (9), and fifth in both
points (37) and goals (14). The four-year letterwinner and team
captain was named to the 2005 and 2007 Summit League all-tournament
teams, and collected first team all-league honors during the 2005
and 2006 seasons. She was instrumental is turning around the
program, as the Westerwinds went 3-12-3 during her freshman season
and won the program's first regular season Summit League
Championship with a 16-3-1 overall mark during her senior
campaign.
Also
nominated for the Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year award: Ross
Gilbert, Centenary, swimming; Hunter Paris, IPFW, cross
country/track & field; Vangel Nacovski, IUPUI, soccer; Patrick
Smith, UMKC, tennis; Christopher Fecek, Oakland, track & field;
Andretti Bain, Oral Roberts, track & field; Craig Parry, South
Dakota State, baseball; Brandon Godfrey, Southern Utah, football;
Walt Willis, Western Illinois, track & field.
Also
nominated for the Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year award: Ali
Hilsher, Centenary, soccer; Hanna Hager, IPFW, tennis; Sherri
Levack, IUPUI, soccer; Sara Hiller, UMKC, cross country/track &
field; Elisa Bue, North Dakota State, basketball; Jessica Pike,
Oakland, basketball; English Clark, Oral Roberts, track &
field; Amy Anderson, South Dakota State, volleyball; Trish Clapham,
Southern Utah, softball.
