CLEVELAND — Graduate student Katelyn Whittle (Glenwood, Md.) of the Ohio field hockey team and redshirt sophomore Xander Karagosian (Jackson, Ohio) of the Ohio football team were named as Mid-American Conference Medal of Excellence Award winners for the 2023-24 academic year, the league announced Friday morning (May 24).
The Medal of Excellence is an award presented annually to one male and one female student-athlete from the graduating class of each of the 12 Conference member institutions.
Whittle concluded her five-year playing career with Ohio this past fall and sports a 3.934 GPA while earning a master’s degree in Ohio’s MBA/MSA dual program. Whittle finished last season with the best athletic performance of her career, winning MAC Offensive Player of the Year after scoring a career-high 18 goals, nine assists and 45 points for the Bobcats.
Her performance moved her up to third all-time in career goals, fifth in goals in a season, third in points in a single season and fourth in career points. In a career-defining moment on Senior Night, Whittle scored a career-high five goals against Bellarmine (Oct. 20), adding two assists for a total of 12 points in one game, a Bobcat record.
Along with earning MAC Offensive Player of the Year honors, in 2023 Whittle also earned a spot on the All-West Region First Team, All-MAC First Team and was named Academic All-MAC. She is a two-time All-MAC Second Team selection, a four-time Academic All-MAC selection and earned MAC Offensive Player of the Week honors three times in her career.
Off the field, Whittle has made an impact, developing and leading Ohio’s chapter of Morgan’s Message, an organization that promotes taking the stigma out of mental health and student athletes. Whittle helps lead the charge that has at least one event from all Ohio’s sports host a Morgan’s Message game a season, where the group helps educate fans and fellow student athletes on the importance of mental health awareness.
Karagosian has been a member of the Ohio football team since 2022 and this May earned his undergraduate degree in finance with a minor in sport management, while holding a 3.40 GPA. Karagosian is an active member of SAAC, where he served as interim president this past year. His natural leadership skills helped Karagosian transition seamlessly into the role, where he immediately began delegating and filling vacant positions.
Karagosian was also recently accepted into the Schey Sales Center, where he will continue to polish his business prowess and networking skills.
To be honored with the Medal of Excellence Award, student-athletes had to participate on the varsity level in a conference sponsored sport and shown evidence of academic success with a minimum 3.50 accumulative grade-point average, exhibited athletics excellence, leadership and service. Selection of the recipients was made by each MAC institution.
In total, twenty-four Mid-American Conference (MAC) student-athletes will be presented with the Medal of Excellence Award during the 2024 Honors Dinner Ceremony at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Tower as part of MAC Spring Meetings on Thursday, May 30th.
2024 Medal of Excellence Award Winners
Akron:
Hunter Garretson, Men’s Track & Field, AYA Integrated Match, 4.0 GPA
Madelyn Gatrall, Women’s Swimming and Diving, Speech-Language & Pathology, 3.72 GPA
Ball State:
Decker Scheffler, Baseball, Teaching & Physical Education, 3.98 GPA
Avery Fenchel, Women’s Soccer, Pre-Dental Preparation, 3.97 GPA
Bowling Green:
Logan Bell, Baseball, Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering Technology, 3.89 GPA
Petra Indrova, Volleyball, Master in Business Administration, 3.82 GPA
Buffalo:
Scilla Benussi, Women’s Track & Field, Computer Engineering and Mathematics, 3.959 GPA
Finn Macnamara, Men’s Tennis, Biomedical Engineering, 3.968 GPA
Central Michigan:
Nicholas Dardas, Baseball, General Management, Personal Finance & Finance, 3.76 GPA
Abbey Tolmie, Softball, Exercise Science, 4.0 GPA
Eastern Michigan:
Kyle Martin, Men’s Track & Field, BS in Environmental Science, Minor in Biology & Zoology, 3.67 GPA
Anna Grace McCullough, Gymnastics, BS in Exercise Science, 3.87 GPA
Kent State:
Josh Johnson, Baseball, Masters in Sports Administration, 4.0 GPA
Grace Luther, Women’s Track & Field, Masters in Sport Admin. and MBA, 3.75 GPA
Miami:
Cam Kirk, Football, BA in Biology Pre-Med Studies, 3.84 GPA
Kate Kobayashi, Softball, BS in Marketing with Sports Management Minor, 3.72 GPA
NIU:
Colin Summerhill, Baseball, Business Administration, 3.59 GPA
Emily Romancew, Women’s Golf, Mechanical Engineering, 3.76 GPA
Ohio:
Xander Karagosian, Football, Finance/Minor Sports Management, 3.40 GPA
Katelyn Whittle, Field Hockey, MBA Sports Administration, 3.934 GPA
Toledo:
Pawit Sornlaksup, Men’s Tennis, BA of Business Administration in Information Systems, 3.756 GPA
Sophia Wiard, Women’s Basketball, BA of Business Admin. in Finance/MBA Finance, 3.918 GPA
Western Michigan:
Ben George, Men’s Tennis, Business Analytics/General Business, 3.96 GPA
Payton Murphy, Gymnastics, Nursing, 3.98 GPA
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