Naperville, Ill. -- University of North Dakota softball player Casie Hanson and football player Brandon Hellevang have been selected Great West Conference Scholar-Athletes for 2009-10. The award is the single highest individual award bestowed by the Conference and honors the outstanding academic achievement, athletic achievement, attitude and leadership of one male and one female student-athlete.

Hanson, a community nutrition major, was named the 2010 Great West Conference Softball Player of the Year after hitting .445 with seven home runs, five triples, 47 runs and 21 runs batted in. Hanson was named to the 2010 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America first team and led the Fighting Sioux to the GWC championship while earning the tournament's most valuable player award.

On the men's side, Hellevang captured the honor after a stellar season as the placekicker for the Fighting Sioux football team. A graduate student pursuing his M.B.A. in business administration, Hellevang finished his career as UND's all-time career record-holder in points scored (321) and PAT kicks made (174). He received All-Great West Conference second team honors as both a placekicker and a punter.

Hellevang topped the Great West Conference in PAT kicking, connecting on 27-28 extra points. He tied for the conference lead with 1.36 field goals per game and set a league record with a 52-yard field goal in the opener at Texas Tech (Sept. 5) and hit the mark once again during the GWC championship game at UC Davis (Nov. 14). Hellevang was named the placekicker on the 2009 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America first team.

"This honor rewards the true student-athlete," said GWC Commissioner Ed Grom. "It combines athletic performance and academic excellence equally. There were several individuals who were nominated, but Casie and Brandon stood above the rest. I congratulate the recipients and commend their achievements both on the playing field and in the classroom."  

To be eligible for the award a student-athlete must be a junior or senior who has completed two seasons of athletic competition in a conference sponsored sport at a member institution and must have a minimum grade point average of 3.2.  The student-athlete must display an examplary mental attitude toward his or her peers and academic and athletic mentors, including leadership, maturity, integrity and contributions to the community. Each institution can nominate one male and one female student-athlete for the award through its faculty athletics representative, and the honorees are determined by a vote of the member institutions.

Others nominated for the award were Houston Baptist's Ligia Clemente (volleyball) and Maximo Mendoza (track & field), NJIT's Sabrina Baby (volleyball) and Kyle McCarthy (baseball), South Dakota's Danielle Dornbusch (track & field) and Tyler Cain (basketball) and Texas-Pan American's Rebecca Toddy (volleyball) and Abraham Garcia (baseball).

--GWC--