Marshall University Athletics
Bane, Culicerto Win Top C-USA Academic Honor
7/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
IRVING, Texas - Sammie Bane (Brownstown, Ind.) and Kelly Culicerto (Charlotte, N.C.) have each earned Conference USA's highest academic honor as 2014-15 Scholar Athletes of the Year for volleyball and women's soccer, respectively, Commissioner Britton Banowsky announced Thursday.
Determined by the league's Faculty Athletics Representatives, the awards are presented to the top student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport. The awards are based on academic achievement (GPA), athletic achievement and service.
"The honors today for Sammie and Kelly are well-deserved and reflective of the committed student-athletes we have at Marshall," MU Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick said. "Their recognition as the best in Conference USA - not only on the field and the floor, but in the classroom - provides an example for their Herd peers."
Bane and Culicerto join Alexandra Phares (Morgantown, W.Va.) as the only Marshall athletes to receive the honor in 10 years with the league. Phares, a distance runner, earned the 2013-14 title for track and field.
Bane was a four-year captain at setter for the Thundering Herd volleyball team, finishing her career ranked fourth on the school's all-time list with more than 4,000 assists. She was a four-time member of the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and garnered three Academic Medals. She graduated with an impressive 3.96 GPA as a double major, receiving a Bachelor of Science in exercise science and a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. She served as president of Marshall's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and was granted C-USA's prestigious Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship in June. Bane has been accepted into the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program at Indiana University.
Culicerto, a rising senior, holds a 3.77 GPA as a business management major and is a three-time member of the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll. In November, she became the first player in Herd women's soccer history to earn first team All-C-USA honors. Additionally, she is the first player from the program to earn first team all-academic and first team all-league honors in the same season. She set career highs of 17 points and eight goals in 2014 en route to Marshall's second consecutive appearance in the Conference USA Tournament.
Scholar-athletes were selected from C-USA's full-time and affiliate institutions in 19 sports (combining indoor and outdoor track & field). Please see below for the complete list:
2014-15 SCHOLAR ATHLETE AWARD WINNERS:
Baseball: James McMahon, Southern Miss
Men's Basketball: Seth Gearhart, Rice
Women's Basketball: Cameasha Turner, UTEP
Men's Cross Country: Elphas Maiyo, UTEP
Women's Cross Country: Mary Lever, WKU
Football: Brian Nordstrom, Rice
Men's Golf: *Brett Patterson, Middle Tennessee
Women's Golf: *Camino Sardinero, UTEP
Men's Soccer: Braeden Troyer, South Carolina #
Women's Soccer: Kelly Culicerto, Marshall
Softball: Megan Low, UTSA
Women's Swimming & Diving: *Krista Rossum, North Texas
Men's Tennis: Carlos Lopez Villa, Old Dominion
Women's Tennis: *Franziska Sprinkmeyer, North Texas
Men's Track and Field: Evan Karakolis, Rice
Women's Track and Field: Belle MacFarlane, Rice
Volleyball: Sammie Bane, Marshall; Dempsey Thornton, UTSA
* Repeat winner
# Affiliate member
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