(May 1, 2008) - The Castleton State College Department of Athletics honored the 2008 spring sports teams at an awards ceremony on Thursday night. All five teams were honored for a very successful spring sports season, and team most valuable player awards were given.

The event kicked off with the presentation of the seasonal Presiden't Cup for Academic Excellence. This award is given out each season to the team with the highest cumulative grade point average. Winning the award for the spring season was the softball team with a g.p.a. of 3.24. Last spring's winner, the women's lacrosse team finished second with a g.p.a. of 3.08

Team Most Valuable Player Awards:

Baseball: Dan Conley. The freshman Conley earned the Most Valuable Player award after helping lead the team to the top-seed in this coming weekend's North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Tournament. Conley started in 34 of the team's 35 games and led the NAC with a .402 batting average and 31 runs batted in and tied teammate Brad Polcare for the league lead with 47 hits during the regular season. Polcare was named Most Outstanding Player by the coaching staff. Polcare hit .395, slugged a team-high .622, had a team-leading on base percentage of .497 and scored a league-high 44 runs.

Men's Lacrosse: James VanDerKar.VanDerKar earns his first-ever MVP award as a senior captain on the 2008 team. VanDerKar is the anchor of the Spartan defense that ranked second in the NAC in goals against average. VanDerKar ranked fourth in the conference in ground balls per game and was named to the all-conference first team for the first time in his career. Head Coach Dave Wiezalis said of VanDerKar: "His leadership and dedication has made the program what it is today," when he introduced the senior defender. The Spartans will travel to Mount Ida College for the fifth-straight season to compete for the NAC Championship on Saturday, May 3.

Women's Lacrosse: Nicole Bouchard. Bouchard earns her first MVP award as a senior. In her final season, Bouchard has set every scoring mark in Castleton women's lacrosse history. This season Bouchard has scored 47 goals and dished out 22 assists for 69 total points this season, all three set season records for a Castleton player. Her career totals of 111 goals and 149 points are also records for a Spartan career. Bouchard was named to the New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) all-conference first team for the second-straight season and led the team to its first-ever berth in the NEWLA Championship game, to be held Saturday, May 3 at Birdgewater State.

Softball: Lindsey McGinness. McGinness earns her first MVP award as a junior. McGinness caught 33 games for the Spartans this season, after not having played the position at all during her first two seasons at Castleton.

Men's Tennis: Justin Garritt. Garritt wins his first MVP award as a freshman for the NAC champion Spartans. Garritt was 12-2 overall and undefeated in conference singles action en route to winning the #3 Singles NAC championship. Garritt teamed with last season's MVP, Ted Panasci for a perfect 9-0 record in #2 doubles and the NAC title. Garritt was named either NAC Rookie or Player of the Week in five out of the six weeks of the season, not earning the award only when the team was off for spring break. Castleton won the overall team championship for the third consecutive season and fourth time in five years. [Archive] [Athletics Home]

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