LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference is pleased to announce its 2024 Fall Top 10 award recipients, as nominated and voted on by the Sports Information and Athletic Communications professionals of the conference.
The PSAC Top 10 was initiated in the 1998-99 academic year and is awarded to those men and women student-athletes who excel in both the classroom and athletic competition.
The honorees for Fall 2024 are:
Delaney Bittner (Shepherd),
Jennifer Cichra (Slippery Rock),
Dan Gibney (IUP)
, Anna Igims (Slippery Rock),
Brayden Long (Slippery Rock),
Sverre Orten (Gannon),
Freddie Retter (Kutztown),
Brady Rimple (Bloomsburg),
Cassidy Snider (Clarion),
and Jady van Gils (East Stroudsburg).
Find this fall's student-athlete capsules below. An all-time recorded list of PSAC Top 10 honorees can be found
here.
Delaney Bittner
Shepherd
York, Pa. / Red Lion Area
Women's Soccer
Major: Health Promotion and Exercise Science
Cumulative GPA: 3.92
Bittner helped lead Shepherd women’s soccer to a record-setting 18-2-4 season, starting all 24 games and earning the 2024 PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year award. She tallied three assists during the season and was named a First Team United Soccer Coaches All-American and Third Team CSC Academic All-America.
Jennifer Cichra
Slippery Rock
Renfrew, Pa. / Butler
Women's Cross Country
Major: Mechanical Engineering (Minor in Computing)
Cumulative GPA: 4.00
Cichra was the NCAA Elite 90 winner for women’s cross country to become the first Slippery Rock female athlete to ever win that award. She earned First Team All-PSAC honors with a career-best 12
th-place finish at the 2024 PSAC meet, helping The Rock to a second consecutive PSAC team title. She also earned her first career All-Region honor in cross country with a 17
th-place finish at the Atlantic Region championships to help SRU to a runner-up finish and a team trip to the national meet.
Dan Gibney
IUP
Stewartstown, Pa. / Kennard-Dale
Men’s Cross Country
Major: Safety, Health, & Environmental Applied Sciences
Cumulative GPA: 4.0
Gibney earned the 2024 PSAC Champion Scholar award for men’s cross country and finished as runner-up at the PSAC meet. He went on to finish 13
th in the 10k at the NCAA Atlantic Region championships.
Anna Igims
Slippery Rock
Pittsburgh, Pa. / Avonworth
Women's Cross Country
Major: Applied Behavioral Analysis (GR), School Wellness Education (UG)
Cumulative GPA: 4.0 (GR), 3.98 (UG)
Igims, the PSAC Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year, was the winner of the 2024 PSAC and NCAA Atlantic Region championships, becoming the second-ever SRU female runner to win a PSAC crown and the first-ever to win a Division II regional title. She was bested by Division II runners on only one occasion all season, and that occurred at the national meet. She earned PSAC Athlete of the Week honors every week she competed during the regular season.
Brayden Long
Slippery Rock
Hanover, Pa. / New Oxford
Football
Major: Sport Management (Minor: Leadership)
Cumulative GPA: 4.00
Long ranked third in Division II in passing years with 3,470 and ninth in passing touchdowns with 28. He led The Rock to the national semifinals and a final national ranking of No. 3 in both the AFCA and D2football.com polls. He was a national finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the DII Player of the Year for the second consecutive year and finished sixth in the national voting. He was also the only Division II player in the country to be a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy.
Sverre Orten
Gannon
Orsta, Norway / Aalesund vgs
Men’s Soccer
Major: Finance
Cumulative GPA: 3.814
Orten, the PSAC West Athlete of the Year, led Gannon with 32 points (nine goals, 14 assists) and led the conference in both points and assists while ranking fourth in goals. He helped the Golden Knights qualify for the NCAA Division II tournament for the third time in four years and was named the United Soccer Coaches National Scholar Player of the Year. He was also named USC NCAA DII All-America First Team as well as the D2CCA Atlantic Region Player of the Year.
Freddie Retter
Kutztown
Quakertown, Pa. / Quakertown
Football
Major: Elementary Education
Cumulative GPA: 3.97
Retter, the PSAC East Defensive Athlete of the Year, was named PSAC Champion Scholar as well as CSC Academic All-District in 2024. On the field, he tallied career-highs in solo tackles (22), tackles for loss (13), sacks (7.5), and forced fumbles (two) while also leading the conference with three blocked kicks. He was named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 Second Team and also earned D2CCA All-Super Region 1 Defensive Athlete of the Year honors.
Brady Rimple
Bloomsburg
Cherryville, Pa. / Northampton Area
Men’s Soccer
Major: Master of Business Administration
Cumulative GPA: 4.0 (GR), 3.93 (UG)
Rimple set the Bloomsburg single-season shutout record and led the Huskies to its first PSAC championship in program history, with conference-best marks in goals against average (.707), shutout percentage (.524), and team save percentage (.810). He had four games with six or more saves, including three games with seven and two matching a career-best eight saves. Bloomsburg also won a program-record 15 games and set a record for consecutive wins at 11 games.
Cassidy Snider
Clarion
Harmonsburg, Pa. / Conneaut
Women's Volleyball
Major: Sport Management
Cumulative GPA: 3.58
Snider was the national leader and NCAA Division II statistical champion in kills per set with 5.46. She was second in the nation in both total kills (606) and points per set (5.97). She was voted both the Atlantic Region Player of the Year and the PSAC West Athlete of the Year in addition to D2CCA First Team All-America and AVCA Second Team All-America honors. Academically, she was honored with a CSC Academic All-America Third Team award.
Jady van Gils
East Stroudsburg
Amersfoort, Netherlands
Field Hockey
Major: Sport Management
Cumulative GPA: 3.722
Van Gils set career-highs in points (35), goals (12), and assists (11) in 2024. She led East Stroudsburg in both points and assists and ranked first in the PSAC in assists, fourth in points, and tied for sixth in goals. She was named the NFHCA Regional Player of the Year, PSAC Field Hockey Athlete of the Year, and NFHCA National Player of the Year for the second consecutive seasons. Academically, she collected CSC Academic All-America Third Team honors.