LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference announced its 2022-23 Pete Nevins Scholar-Athletes of the Year, with California’s Divonne Franklin and Pitt-Johnstown’s John Paul Kromka both awarded the honor.
 
The two honorees were selected by a vote of the conference’s sports information directors.
 
The PSAC’s Pete Nevins Scholar-Athlete of the Year Awards 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. Student-athletes must have been recognized as a conference Fall, Winter or Spring Top Ten Award Winner to be eligible for the honor. The Scholar-Athletes of the Year are chosen by the league's sports information directors and the award was renamed in 2007 to honor East Stroudsburg’s long-time sports information director, Pete Nevins, who passed away earlier that year. Nevins held his position at ESU for 33 years and it is estimated that he wrote articles on more than 12,000 ESU events that covered more than 5,000 student-athletes.
 
Franklin becomes the eighth all-time California student-athlete to win the award and first since Alicia Belko in the 2018-19 season, while Kromka is the first ever student-athlete from Pitt-Johnstown to be named Pete Nevins Scholar-Athlete of the Year. 
 
Divonne Franklin
California
Philadelphia, Pa. / Archbishop John Carroll
Indoor/Outdoor Track & Field
Major: Biology (Undergraduate), Exercise Science & Health Promotion (Graduate)
Cumulative GPA: 3.64 (Undergraduate), 4.0 (Graduate)
 
Franklin was the National Champion in both the 100m and 200m at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships and recorded the fastest Division II time ever in the 100m (11.09) regardless of weather conditions during the finals of the NCAA Championships. She ranks second all-time on the Division II Performance List in the 200m (22.65). Franklin broke PSAC Championship records in the 100m (11.28) and 200m (22.65) and was named the Overall MVP and Outstanding Track Athlete of the meet in 2023. She is an eight-time All-American, a four-time USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Track Athlete of the Year, a four-time PSAC Track Athlete of the Year honoree, and holds four all-time PSAC records, four PSAC championship meet records, and seven school records.
 
 


John Paul Kromka
Pitt-Johnstown
Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway
Men’s Basketball
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Cumulative GPA: 3.94
 
In 2022-23, Kromka led the Mountain Cats with averages of 17.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and conference-leading marks of 78 blocks (also ranked No. 5 in all of Division II) and a 67.4 field goal percentage (No. 2 in the nation.) In his career, was named PSAC Defensive Player of the Year four times as well as earning four CSC Academic All-America honors (three consecutive first-team selections), including being named the 2022-23 CSC Division II Men’s Basketball Academic All-America Team Member of the Year. Kromka holds Pitt-Johnstown career blocked shots record with 320 and ranks third in all-time scoring (1,944), third in rebounding (941), and 13^th in assists (306).