Feb. 25, 2010

Junior Angus MacDonald (Methuen, MA) was named among the inaugural recipients of the Northeast-10 Conference Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award, the Conference announced Wednesday.

MacDonald, a cross country/track and field standout, is among seven fall season student-athletes Conference-wide to receive the distinction, which is voted upon by a committee of athletic administrators and faculty athletic representatives at various NE-10 institutions.

The award honors one student-athlete per conference-sponsored sport each year. To be eligible, student-athletes must have completed two consecutive years of full-time enrollment and athletic eligibility while maintaining a 3.30 cumulative grade point average.

The honor is the latest of several academic plaudits this season for MacDonald, who was also recently named to the NE-10 Cross Country All-Academic Team and the NE-10 Fall 2009 Commissioner’s Honor Roll for the second straight year.

MacDonald helped lead the cross country team to its 10th straight appearance at the NCAA Championship, where the River Hawks placed 16th. Individually, he finished 26th among scoring runners (37th overall) in 32:29.4 to become UMass Lowell’s first All-American of the 2009-10 season.

Prior to the NCAAs, MacDonald guided the River Hawks to their seventh NCAA East Region title in nine years, where he placed third overall. He also took fifth at the NE-10 Championship, leading the River Hawks to second.

MacDonald has twice been named to the NCAA East Region and NE-10 all-star teams. Perhaps most impressive, he helped UMass Lowell to its third New England Championship (against Division I, II and III schools) in four years, where he placed eighth individually.

A mathematics major, MacDonald has maintained a 3.41 cumulative grade point average.

Other NE-10 Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award recipients included Laura Brustolon (cross country) of Southern Connecticut; Alyssa Sliney (field hockey) and Jared Kawadler (football) of Bentley; Robbie Sabadoz (men’s soccer) of Merrimack; Angelika Johansson (women’s soccer) of Franklin Pierce and Sara Malmlov (volleyball) of New Haven.