For the second straight year, former Barry softball standout Shyla Rider was named the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association South Region Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Rider won the award for her performance in the classroom and on the field during the 2008-09 academic year. She had previously claimed the same honor following her junior year in 2007-08.
A native of Woodbridge, Va., Rider carried a 3.90 GPA as a chemistry major with a specialization in biochemistry. She was an
ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-District selection, as well as an NFCA Scholar All-American. In June, she was named the
Sunshine State Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year.
A four-time All-SSC selection, Rider concluded her Barry softball career ranked among the school’s leaders in a number of statistical categories. She ranks first in hits, total bases, and doubles. She places second all-time in runs, fourth in walks, fifth in on-base percentage, sixth in RBI, seventh in stolen bases, and eighth in batting average.
Rider was also extremely active with a number of community service projects and organizations in Miami Shores and her hometown.
She is the second Buccaneer to win the award back-to-back after Greta Trotman claimed the honor in 2005 and 2006. Thomas Hipp (2005) and Patrick Rittenauer (2008) also earned the award.
The Division II Conference Commissioners Association also announced that Anna Atkinson of Wingate and Jake Visser of Ferris State were selected as the 2008-09 female and male Division II National Scholar-Athletes of the Year.
Atkinson, who also won the award for 2007-08, recorded a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average as a biology major and led the basketball team in scoring last year with 16.3 points per game. Visser completed his football career at Ferris State with a 3.89 GPA as a history education major and was a first-team athletics and academic all-American.
The scholar-athlete awards are sponsored by Disney Sports Attractions. CCA President and Commissioner of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Jim Naumovich said the award winners reflect the mission of Division II.
“NCAA Division II emphasizes providing student-athletes growth opportunities through academic achievement, athletics competition and engagement with the community,” he said. “All of these learning experiences have provided the scholar-athlete award winners with a path to graduation and successful lives ahead.”
Atkinson is only the second student-athlete since the award program’s inception in 1999-2000 to repeat as a winner. North Alabama baseball player Douglas Hargett won the honor in 2000-01 and 2001-02.
In addition to the national winners, the Division II CCA also announced the eight women’s and eight men’s regional scholar-athletes of the year.
The women’s winners were:
Atkinson
Jen Blasko (volleyball, Slippery Rock)
Emily Brister (basketball, West Texas A&M)
Caitlin Hall (soccer, Merrimack)
Ashley Puga (cross country/track and field, Northwest Nazarene)
Shyla Rider (softball, Barry)
Mary Slinger (volleyball, Concordia-St. Paul)
Kathy Tafler (soccer, Grand Valley State)
Puga and Tafler also were among the nine finalists for the 2009 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
The eight men’s regional winners for 2008-09 were:
Visser
Jon Alia (baseball, Cal State Dominguez Hills)
Aaron Braun (cross country/track and field, Adams State)
Caleb Farabi (football, Pittsburg State)
Stephen Hill (cross country, Christian Brothers)
Jarrell NeSmith (football, Tusculum)
Benjamin Watkins (baseball, Pittsburgh-Johnstown)
Mike Yocum (basketball, Philadelphia U.)
