NJCAA ALL-ACADEMIC AWARD NOMINATIONS 2021

Women’s soccer team nominated • 14 individual athletes nominated Dakota County Technical College has submitted nominations for 2020–2021 NJCAA All-Academic Awards for teams and individual players. The DCTC Blue Knights women’s soccer team (average GPA: 3.11) has been nominated for the NJCAA Academic Team of the Year Award. Fourteen Blue Knights softball, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, baseball and basketball players have been nominated for NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete Awards. Marki Struensee serves as the college’s athletic coordinator. Marki oversaw the nomination process for all six NJCAA teams at DCTC. “I am proud of each and every Blue Knight athlete,” she said. “In the past year, COVID has forced us to make some big changes to athletics as well as academics. These student-athletes worked hard to balance it all—at times with things changing daily. Congrats to the individual and team nominations, as well as those who didn’t make the nomination criteria. Thank you for all of your hard work!” DCTC Team Nominated Blue Knights Women’s Soccer Average GPA: 3.11 Bella Ciccarelli (4) • 3.81 GPA • Team and Student-Athlete [team photo unavailable] DCTC Individual Players Nominated Ben Goelz Baseball Freshman GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team Zach Gunderson Baseball Freshman GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team Ariyontai Hatcher Basketball Freshman GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team Jordi Herrera Men’s Soccer Sophomore GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team Alissa Merrick Women’s Soccer Freshman GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team Caitlin Springer Women’s Soccer Freshman GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team Kirby Pieri Baseball Freshman GPA: 3.97 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team Riley Pederson Baseball Freshman GPA: 3.95 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team Maria Gutzmann Softball Freshman GPA: 3.94 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team Benjamin Simonsen Baseball Freshman GPA: 3.91 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team Lilly Hernandez Women’s Soccer Sophomore GPA: 3.88 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team Elizabeth Lehrer Softball Freshman GPA: 3.82 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team Isabella Ciccarelli Softball, Women’s Soccer Freshman GPA: 3.81 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team Dalton Burns Baseball Freshman GPA: 3.75 • NJCAA All-Academic Third Team