Friday, September 6, 2013

Siena's O.D. Anosike To Receive Top ECAC Award

We don't often report awards, unless they are significant ones. But, this one qualifies.

Siena's O.D. Anosike, who graduated from that school in May, will be honored as the 2012-13 ECAC Division I Male Scholar Athlete award winnerr. The award will be presented at the 2013 ECAC honors dinner, held on Sunday, Sept. 29 at the ECAC's annual convention in North Falmouth, Mass.

The female award winner is former Delaware standout Elena Della Donne, who is a lock to be the Rookie of the Year in the WNBA this season.

Anosike, who became the first MAAC player to lead the nation in rebounding for two straight seasons, has begun his professional basketball career with VL Pesara of the Serie A League in Italy, the country's top-tier club league, and will be unable to attend the awared ceremony. But, he said he was humbled by the honor, when reached via cell phone by Siena's sports information staff on Thursday.

"It's a tremendous honor to receive such a prestigious award, "Anosike said. "It's a true testament to the hard work I put in on and off the court ... it's an individual award, but I couldn't have done it without the great support system at Siena.

The ECAC is the largest athletic group nationally, comprising 317 member institutions in Divisions I, II and III and ranging in location from Maine to North Carolina and west to Illinois.

One male and one female athlete from each division is selected annually, with the award recognizing not only extraordinary achievement in athletics, but also academics and community service. Candidates must also have earned a minimum overall GPA of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale and other factors, such as exemplary citizenship and/or other extracurricular activities are also considered.

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