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June 18, 2002 Esker, Opel Named GLVC Scholar Athletes Jenny Esker (Steeleville) and Chad Opel (Edwardsville) have been named Scholar Athletes for their respective sports by the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville standouts were selected by the faculty academic representatives of the GLVC's 11 institutions as the student-athletes who best exemplified the student-athlete concept in each conference sport. The criteria for earning the award is based on academic excellence, academic performance and athletic accomplishments in the season upon which the award is based. Esker, the GLVC's softball Player of the Year, also recently earned second team Verizon Academic All-America honors. The sophomore outfielder is a physics major. She helped the Cougars advance to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season in 2002 behind a school-record 51 victories and led SIUE with a .395 batting average. Esker broke the school record for hits in a season with 83, including a team-leading 12 home runs. She also led the Cougars in doubles (22), at bats (210), runs (56) and stolen bases (30). Opel, the GLVC's baseball Player of the Year, completed his career with 302 hits, making him the seventh player in NCAA Division II history to record 300 or more in a career. He also ranks fifth in the NCAA in runs scored with 229 and at bats with 850. He helped the Cougars to a 30-24 record and a third-place finish in the GLVC Tournament this past season as well as a fifth-place national finish during the 2001 season. Opel holds career records at SIUE in runs scored and doubles with 59. He also is second all-time at SIUE in hits and at bats. The Cougar shortstop, who was signed as a free agent by the Baltimore Orioles organization, also holds single-season records for at bats (274) and runs scored (82) in 2001. -siue cougars- |