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Watkins Atlantic Region Scholar-Athlete of the Year - 10/05/09

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ATH09_029_WatkinsBen_TWatkins Named Atlantic Region Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year
(INDIANAPOLIS)-Pitt Johnstown baseball player Ben Watkins (Tire Hill, Pa.) has been selected as the 2008-09 Atlantic Region Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year as named by the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioners’ Association (DII CCA).
     Watkins, a first team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, was a West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) Male-Scholar Athlete in 2009.  He currently has a 3.9 grade-point-average in Electrical Engineering Technology and is scheduled to earn his degree from Pitt-Johnstown in 2010.  The Tire Hill, PA native was also selected as the recipient of a 2009 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
     Athletically, Watkins was the 2009 WVIAC Pitcher of the Year while leading Division II with a WVIAC record 0.84 earned run average and being named a third team All-American.  He was drafted in the 40th round of June's Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees.  Watkins helped lead the Staten Island Yankees to the Class A New York-Penn League championship after posting a 5-0 record with a 2.47 earned run average.  He fanned 43 batters, while only walking 11 in 47 1/3 innings of work with the Yankees.
     The D-II CCA Scholar-Athlete awards, sponsored by Disney Sports Attractions, provide the opportunity for Division II to highlight the extraordinary achievements of its student-athletes.  DII CCA President and Commissioner of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Jim Naumovich said that the award winners are outstanding examples of the mission of NCAA Division II. “NCAA Division II emphasizes providing student-athletes growth opportunities through academic achievement, athletic competition and engagement with the community. All of these learning experiences have provided the scholar-athlete award winners with a path to graduation and successful lives ahead. We are grateful to Disney Sports for helping us to recognize the academic and athletic accomplishments of these exceptional Division II student-athletes.”
     With a strong commitment to education and a long-standing relationship with Division II athletics, the involvement of Disney Sports with the Division II Scholar-Athlete of the Year Awards is a natural fit. “Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex has become a destination for top collegiate athletics, particularly at the Division II level,” said Fred Schoeler, Area Sports Manager for Disney Sports Attractions. “Having worked with the Division II Commissioners’ Association on the creation of Disney’s Division II Men’s and Women’s Tip Off Classic basketball tournaments, we are thrilled to continue our involvement with the Scholar-Athlete Awards, which honors the academic and athletic accomplishments of Division II’s top student-athletes.”
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