Four Blue Demons Claim BIG EAST Sport Excellence Award

CHICAGO -- The BIG EAST Conference announced the winners of the 2021-22 BIG EAST Sport Excellence Award on Tuesday and four DePaul student-athletes were recognized for their academic and athletic achievement as well as their commitment to community service.

DePaul's honorees include Maranda Gutierrez (Softball), Marija Jovicic (Women's Tennis), Vito Tonejc (Men's Tennis) and Morgan Turner (Women's Soccer). Tonejc received the certificate for the second-consecutive year while Jovicic was one of two student-athletes to earn a perfect 4.0 GPA.

The Sport Excellence Awards are given to one student-athlete in each BIG EAST-sponsored sport based on academic credentials, athletic accolades or performances and volunteer service to the community. Student-athletes who have attained junior academic standing and a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.00 are eligible. The winners are chosen by the BIG EAST Faculty Athletics Representative Council.

Of the list of 22 honorees, 13 of the winners competed in the NCAAs in their respective sports and 14 were 2021-22 BIG EAST Yearly Award or BIG EAST Championship winners.

Villanova led the way with six honorees, while DePaul ranked second with four recipients. Seven student-athlete winners, DePaul's Maranda Gutierrez, Marija Jovicic and Morgan Turner, Providence's Marcelo Rocha, St. John's Jessie Kweon, Villanova's Sade Meeks and Xavier's Luke Franzoni boasted an undergraduate GPA of 3.9 or higher.

While the format of the awards allows for only one declared winner in each sport category, the selection of the recipients proves each year to be a challenge for the FAR Council, as candidate nominees represent exceptional student-athletes who excel in academics, service, and athletics, and are outstanding representatives of their schools and the Conference.

2021-22 BIG EAST Sports Excellence Award Winners:

Sport	Student-Athlete	Institution	Major	GPA
Baseball	Luke Franzoni	Xavier	Marketing	3.900
Men's Basketball	Collin Gillespie	Villanova	Communications	3.200
Women's Basketball	Maddy Siegrist	Villanova	Communications	3.260
Men's Cross Country	Marcelo Rocha	Providence	Environmental Biology	3.980
Women's Cross Country	Lauren Ginefra	Seton Hall	Biology	3.637
Men's Indoor Track & Field	Sean Dolan	Villanova	Communications	3.390
Women's Indoor Track & Field	Sade Meeks	Villanova	Accounting	4.000
Men's Outdoor Track & Field	Barry Keane	Butler	Finance	3.205
Women's Outdoor Track & Field	Alex O'Neill	Providence	Marketing and French	3.350
Field Hockey	Ciara Weets	Georgetown	Science, Tech & Int'l Affairs	3.728
Men's Golf	Hunter Eichhorn	Marquette	Corporate Communication & Communication Studies	3.200
Women's Golf	Jessie Kweon	St. John's	Sport Management	3.900
Men's Lacrosse	Matt Grillo	Providence	Finance	3.590
Women's Lacrosse	Landyn White	UCONN	Allied Health Sciences	3.646
Men's Soccer	Dante Polvara	Georgetown	Finance	3.469
Women's Soccer	Morgan Turner	DePaul	Political Science	3.961
Softball	Maranda Gutierrez	DePaul	Elementary Education	3.988
Men's Swimming & Diving	Michael Ackert	Villanova	Marketing and Business Analytics	3.550
Women's Swimming & Diving	Kelly Montesi	Villanova	Nursing	3.340
Men's Tennis	Vito Tonejc	DePaul	Sports Communication	3.551
Women's Tennis	Marija Jovicic	DePaul	Computer Science	4.000
Volleyball	Hope Werch	Marquette	Communication Studies	3.547

Four Blue Demons Claim BIG EAST Sport Excellence Award

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Players Mentioned

Maranda Gutierrez

Marija Jovicic

Vito Tonejc

Morgan Turner

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