HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana juniors
Josh Cryer and
Katie Duhe were among the 24 student-athletes selected as 2009-10 Capital One Bank Southland Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year in an announcement from the league office on Thursday.
Both Cryer, a catcher on the Lion baseball team, and Duhe, who split time between second base and shortstop for the Southeastern softball team, are accounting majors with 4.0 cumulative grade point averages.
The Southland Conference annually recognizes the outstanding male and female student-athletes from each of the league's member institutions. Student-athletes must be a letterwinner with a minimum 3.20 cumulative GPA and have completed at least two years of intercollegiate competition at the school from which he or she was nominated. The student-athletes were selected by their respective institution administrators.
The academic accolade was just the latest for Cryer. For each of the past two seasons, the Leesville native has been a first team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VI selection and was a first Southland Conference All-Academic selection in 2009. Cryer was also named the Outstanding Junior in the College of Business by Southeastern's chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.
On the field, Cryer was a key part of a Southeastern squad that won a school-record 40 games in 2010. The third team All-Southland Conference selection was hit by a pitch a league-high 22 times and posted a .425 on-base percentage. Cryer closed the season with a .312 batting average, 63 hits, 11 doubles, five home runs and 46 runs batted in.
Much like Cryer, Duhe is no stranger to academic accolades. Last month, the Lutcher native became the 12th student-athlete in school history to earn ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America honors. She also has been a first team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VI selection and was a first Southland Conference All-Academic selection in 2009.
Fourth in the Southland with a team-high .363 batting average, Duhe finished the season ranked among the league leaders in multiple categories including slugging percentage (.556, 8th), on-base percentage (.416, 11th), hits per game (1.00, 13th) and fewest strikeouts per game (0.18, 2nd). Duhe also led the team with 23 runs batted in and seven doubles, while finishing tied for second with five home runs. In her three years with the program, she is hitting .338 with 144 hits, 68 runs, 16 home runs, 78 RBI and 31 doubles.
Duhe earned second team All-Southland Conference and All-Louisiana honors due in large part to a torrid finish that saw her hit safely in the final 14 games, tying a school record. During that stretch, she hit .632 and raised her season batting average 119 points. Thanks to her tremendous final month of the season, Duhe ended the regular season with the Southland's highest batting average (.444), slugging percentage (.722) and on-base percentage (.506) against league opponents.
The Southland Conference began selecting the Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards at the conclusion of the 1996-97 season.
2009-10 Southland Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Central Arkansas
Male: Tye Thorneberry, Baseball
Female: Rebecca Sorenson, Golf
Lamar
Male: Eric Harrington, Baseball
Female: Mariayeni, Gutierrez, Tennis
McNeese State
Male: Jordan Venable, Baseball
Female: Lindsey Langner, Softball
Nicholls
Male: Beau Faulk, Baseball
Female: Leslie Bourgeois, Track and Field
Northwestern State
Male: Justin Aldredge, Football
Female: Chelsea Brozgold, Soccer
Sam Houston State
Male: Jordan Bowersox, Football
Female: Anna Ferguson, Volleyball
Southeastern Louisiana
Male: Josh Cryer, Baseball
Female: Katie Duhe, Softball
Stephen F. Austin
Male: Max Holmes, Football
Female: Briana Bishop, Softball
UT Arlington
Male: Jason Mitchell, Baseball
Female: Raegan Daniel, Volleyball
UTSA
Male: Devin Gibson, Basketball
Female: Dana Mecke, Cross Country/Track and Field
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Male: Omar Garcia, Baseball
Female: Courtney Peeler, Golf
Texas State
Male: Travis Houston, Football
Female: Leah Boatright, Softball
