Martin, Cignetti Garner Pete Nevins Scholar-Athlete of the Year Recognition
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. --- Slippery Rock senior Marcus Martin and IUP senior Natalie Cignetti have been named the 2017-18 Pete Nevins Scholar-Athletes of the Year, the league announced Tuesday afternoon.
The two honorees were selected by a vote of the league's sports information directors.
The Pete Nevins Scholar-Athletes of the Year are presented to the top student-athletes who have achieved at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average while competing at an outstanding athletic level. To be eligible for the Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, a student-athlete must have been recognized as a fall, winter or spring PSAC Top 10 award winner in the same academic year.
Marcus Martin (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin), Slippery Rock
Football - Senior
Major: Safety Management (Minor: Business Administration)
Cumulative GPA: 3.56
Martin is the eighth football athlete to garner the award and first since 2010-11 (Ian Wild, Mercyhurst). Martin is the fourth The Rock representative to win award. On the men’s side, SRU is the first school since California (2004-05, 05-06) to boast the honoree in consecutive years.
Set NCAA all-time, all-division career record for sacks and shattered DII record for tackles for loss … Consensus National Defensive Player of the Year … consensus first team All-American … Super Region 1 Defensive Player of the Year for the third straight year … PSAC West Defensive Player of the Year for the third straight year … only Division II finalist ever for the Ted Hendricks Award (presented to best DE in all of college football) … Gene Upshaw DII Lineman of the Year with a record number of first place votes … highest finish in Harlon Hill Trophy history for a defensive lineman (3
rd overall) … led the nation in sacks (15.5) and tackles for loss (26.5) despite being the only returning starter on the SRU defense this year … broke SRU single-game records for sacks (4.5) and tackles for loss (6.5) during the year … finished second on the team in total tackles with 82 … recorded two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and one 74-yard touchdown return … 15.5 sacks went for a loss of 90 yards and 26.5 TFL went for a loss of 127 yards … earned third straight CoSIDA Academic All-America honor … named as the only Division II finalist for the William Campbell Trophy (academic Heisman) … presented with an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as one of the 13 national finalists for the Campbell Trophy (was honored in black-tie awards dinner at College Football Hall of Fame Induction in NYC) … first and only player in PSAC history to be named a finalist for the Campbell Trophy … PSAC Fall Top 10 … Invited to both the East-West Shrine Game and the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl … scored a TD as a fullback in the East-West Shrine game on a pass from Ohio State QB JT Barrett … signed by the Seattle Seahawks as a priority free agent this spring. More than 20 All-America recognitions in his career … First team All-America performer on the field in all four years … earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in every year he was eligible for the award … only football player in PSAC history to earn four consecutive major awards (Rookie of the Year in 2014, Defensive POY in 2015, 2016, 2017) … only player in PSAC history to earn four consecutive regional major awards (Rookie of the Year in 2014, Defensive POY in 2015, 2016, 2017) … only the eighth player in PSAC history to be named first team All-PSAC in all four years of a football career … Shattered the NCAA Division II career record for tackles for loss, finishing with 92.5 (No. 2 in the record book is 77.0) … broke the NCAA all-time, all-division career record for sacks, finishing with 56.0 (next highest in PSAC history is 33.5) … first PSAC player in history to be named a Campbell Trophy finalist and the first DII player in history to be named a national finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award (finished runner-up in the voting behind first round draft pick Bradley Chubb from NC State) … Top DII vote getter for the Cliff Harris Award in 2017 and a four-time national finalist … two-time PSAC Fall Top 10 honoree … four-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete … National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society member.
Natalie Cignetti (Indiana, Pa./Indiana), IUP
Volleyball – Senior
Major: Natural Science, pre-med (Minor: Chemistry and Studio Art)
Cumulative GPA: 4.0
Cignetti is the third Crimson Hawk to claim the accolade. It marks the fifth time that IUP has boasted the winner. Cignetti is the first volleyball athlete since 2012-13 to garner the recognition.
Honorable mention All-American (AVCA) … First team All-Atlantic Region (AVCA, D2CCA) … PSAC Athlete of the Year … Second team Academic All-America … PSAC Fall Top 10 … NCAA Woman of the Year nominee … First IUP All-American since Laura Hall (2002) … IUP Women’s Athlete of the Year, Women’s Senior of the Year, and Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year … Led PSAC in kills (488), kills per set (4.28), points (546.5) and points per set (4.79) … Points per set and kills per set were 14th and 17th, respectively, in Division II … One of best individual seasons in program history … Led IUP to best season for program in more than a decade: 25 wins were most in a single season since 2005; Division title was first since 2002; NCAA regional appearance was first since 2010; NCAA win was first since 2005. Accepted to Wake Forest School of Medicine (July start) … Part of Chinese-U.S. research team with published work in the journal Nature (June 13, 2018) … Academic All-America … Two-time Academic All-District … Two-time PSAC Fall Top 10 … IUP Provost Scholar … One of best players in IUP history … All-American, two-time All-Atlantic Region, three-time All-PSAC … Career 3.67 kills/game is second best mark in program history … Career 1267 kills is fourth … Career 119 aces is fourth, 1,014 digs is eighth.
The PSAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards are now in their 28th year of existence. In 2007, the awards were renamed to honor East Stroudsburg's long-time sports information director, Pete Nevins, who passed away earlier that year. Nevins held his position at East Stroudsburg for 33 years, and it is estimated that he wrote articles on more than 12,000 East Stroudsburg events that covered more than 5,000 student-athletes.