2010-11 PSAC Sportsmanship Award Recipients - Eric Berringer of California (left) and Kristen Montello of West Chester (right).
Lock Haven, Pa. – California’s Eric Berringer (Damascus, Md./Damascus) and West Chester’s Kristen Montello (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) have been selected as the recipients of the 2010-11 PSAC Sportsmanship Award. Now in its third year of existence, the PSAC Sportsmanship Award is given annually to one male and one female student-athlete who best exemplify the spirit of sportsmanship and who has demonstrated the values of respect and integrity through a specific action ideally directed toward an opponent.
A nominee must also have represented his/her institution in a positive way during competition and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of competition by fostering a good public image. The winners of the PSAC Sportsmanship Award are submitted as nominees for the NCAA Division II Sportsmanship Award. The PSAC Sportsmanship Award was implemented by the PSAC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at the beginning of the 2008-09 academic year. Nominations for the award may be made by any personnel of a PSAC school, including administrators, coaches and student-athletes, and the awards are voted on by members of the PSAC SAAC.
Berringer , a senior on the California baseball team, distinguished himself by the way he acted in a game situation this season. Mainly a role player on the Vulcans’ squad who did not see a lot of playing time, Berringer was one of Cal’s bullpen catchers, a role that not many people usually want since it doesn’t entail many breaks or the ability to watch the game since most time is spent warming up pitchers. Despite this unglamorous role, Berringer never made any negative comments about his role or about not wanting to warm up a pitcher or catch a bullpen session and was always very encouraging toward his teammates. He always did so in a respectable manner and without putting anyone down, reflecting his outstanding leadership qualities. Berringer received a rare start in California’s Senior Day game and his whole family was there to watch him play. In the fourth inning and with California leading by one run, Berringer hit a leadoff double. At that point, he was pinch-run for in favor of a younger, faster player and came off the field running and into the dugout. In a situation in which some people may have been mad and thrown their helmet down for being taken out of their Senior Day game, Berringer gently placed his helmet down and began cheering for his team louder than anyone else. All of his teammates recognized this and overall, looked at him as the definition of what a good teammate is all about.
Montello, a senior on West Chester’s women’s swimming team, sacrificed a season-best time and top-eight finish in an event at the PSAC Swimming Championships in February with her act of outstanding sportsmanship. A distance specialist and two-time PSAC Winter Top 10 award winner, Montello won the 1000 freestyle at the PSAC Championships in each of the last two years and the 500 free at the 2010 meet. In her final chance to also claim a PSAC title in the 1650 free, Montello came up a bit short but still posted what was a season-best time by over six seconds and an NCAA ‘B’ provisional qualifying time to finish in fourth place. However, after swimming the grueling 66 laps of the event, she got out of the pool, at which point she realized there was still another swimmer that had yet to finish the race. While this action may appear insignificant on the surface, in swimming, if one gets out of the pool before another athlete finishes, it is generally a sign of disrespect. Knowing this, Montello quickly jumped back into the pool out of respect for that athlete as she finished swimming the race. However, according to the rules of swimming, if a swimmer jumps back into the pool after getting out, he or she is disqualified unless that person has permission from officials. Although the rule is not well-known and seldom is invoked since the situation does not often occur, Montello’s desire to maintain respect for an opponent and fellow competitor got her disqualified from the race. Her time therefore did not count toward NCAA consideration and she did not get to stand on the podium for earning what would have been a fourth place finish. Although her selfless act came at a personal cost at the PSAC Championships, she was ultimately rewarded her for selflessness as she did end up qualifying for the 1650 at the NCAA Championships and although she did not have an All-American finish in that event, she did swim to All-American finishes in three other individual events.
The NCAA Sportsmanship Award winners will be announced in August. In the last two years, a PSAC Sportsmanship Award winner has been honored with an NCAA Sportsmanship Award. Last year, Shippensburg’s Neely Spence was honored as the female recipient of the Division II Sportsmanship Award. The year before that, Clarion’s Jamie Maloney was female recipient of both the Division II and national Sportsmanship Award.
Other nominees for the 2010-11 PSAC Sportsmanship Awards are listed below.
Edinboro Women’s Volleyball Team
Nicole Capozzi, Shippensburg Women’s Swimming
Casey Quinn, Slippery Rock Lacrosse