YORK, Pa. - Sixteen Salisbury University players, including six that were multiple-year Capital Athletic Conference Player of the Year award winners, lead the 25-member CAC's Silver Anniversary Softball Team. Lacey Lister, a 2006 SU grad, led the list of honorees as a three-time CAC Player of the Year.
Entering its 25th year of varsity competition, the CAC selected a Silver Anniversary Team in 19 championship sports, primarily based on season-ending conference awards as voted by the conference coaches. Each Silver Anniversary Team will feature 25 former or current standouts. Men's and women's indoor track & field, which became a CAC championship sport in 2012, was combined with men's and women's outdoor track & field. The Silver Anniversary Golf Team has just eight members because the sport was added to the CAC championships list just seven years ago.
The teams will be announced early in the regular-season for its respective sport. Each Silver Anniversary Team honoree will receive a commemorative gift from the conference, and many will be recognized by their institution/alma mater at some time during the academic year.
The University of Mary Washington, a charter member of the CAC, led the conference with 153 current and former student-athletes on the Silver Anniversary Teams, including 40 in men's and women's tennis combined. Salisbury University, which joined the CAC in the 1994-95 athletic season, was second with 121 Silver Anniversary Team honorees. CAC charter members York College of Pa. (59) and St. Mary's College of Md. (35) were next in line for most Silver Anniversary Team honorees.
The CAC was organized as a six-team affiliation in 1989 and began championship competition with the winter sports during the 1990-91 season. Membership changes in the last decade ultimately created a 10-team conference that has become one of the strongest in NCAA Division III.
CAC teams have won 18 national team championships, and dozens of other teams have finished in among the top four in NCAA Division III competition.
In 2013-14, the CAC advanced more than 25 teams to post-season competition. Four CAC athletic programs finished among the Top 60 in the final Learfield Cup – the only conference in the Middle Atlantic Region to accomplish that feat. One team won a national championship (Salisbury University women's lacrosse) and three others played in the national championship game. Nineteen CAC teams won at least one game in NCAA Tournament competition and 10 advanced to at least the NCAA Sweet 16.
In the last two years, CAC student-athletes have combined to win six individual national championships at NCAA swimming or track & field competitions. The CAC student-athletes collected a record 11 Capital One Academic All-America awards in 2013-14 as well as an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship and the Josten's Award, recognizing a Division III women's basketball player for her achievements on the court, in the classroom and contributions to the community.
In the classroom, the CAC boasts 81 Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, including one Academic All-American of the Year award winner, 12 NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship winners, five NCAA Elite 89 award winners, two Honda year-end award winners and a Josten's Award winner in women's basketball. The CAC also features an annual Academic Honor Roll that recently honored nearly 1,200 students for their academic achievements. Thousands of other student-athletes have received Player of the Year, All-America or All-Region recognition in their respective sports.
Lister, a four-time first-team All-CAC honoree, started her career as the 2003 Rookie of the Year, and followed with three-straight Player of the Year awards. Other Sea Gulls that were two-time CAC Player of the Year award winners include Myra Parks (1997-98), April Harned (2000-01), Kelly Waskewicz (2007-08), Erica Brittingham (2011-12) and current SU senior Rachel Johnson (2013-14).
Another two-time CAC Player of the Year on the Silver Anniversary Softball Team is Tasha Thomas (1992-93) from the University of Mary Washington. Thomas was one of three Eagles named to the honorary team.
Three other Sea Gulls joined Lister as four-time first-team All-CAC selections that were also named the conference Player of the Year once during their careers - Megan Hopper (1999), Lisa Gentilella (2003) and Lauren Brenneman (2010). Brenneman, who started her collegiate career as a catcher at York College, is the only CAC Silver Anniversary Honoree (out of 460 in 19 sports) that played at two CAC schools during her career.
Four CAC Softball Silver Anniversary Team honorees joined Lister, Hopper and Brenneman as four-time first-team all-stars, including Brittany Malarkey and Caitlyn Fedorishen of York, which ranked second with five players on the Silver Anniversary Team, along with Erin Rantz of Mary Washington and Michelle Gravdahl of Salisbury.
CAC Softball Silver Anniversary Team Honorees
Name, Last Year of Competition, Institution
Roxanne Bautista, 1996, Catholic University of America
Lauren Brenneman, 2010, York College of Pa. and Salisbury
University
Erika Brittingham, 2012, Salisbury University
Joy Byers, 2002, York College of Pa.
Stacy Chandler, 1997, York College of Pa.
Jen Dodson, 1998, Salisbury University
Caitlyn Fedorishen, 2006, York College of Pa.
Lisa Gentilella, 2003, Salisbury University
Michelle Gravdahl, 2013, Salisbury University
April Harned, 2001, Salisbury University
Kristin Heath, 1998, Salisbury University
Megan Hopper, 1999, Salisbury University
Cathy Hull, 2009, University of Mary
Washington
Rachel Johnson, 2014, Salisbury University
Lacey Lister, 2006, Salisbury University
Caitlin Lovend, 2013, Frostburg State University
Brittany Malarkey, 2005, York College of Pa.
Stacey Malarkey, 2009, Salisbury University
Katie Mullinix, 2003, Salisbury University
Myra Parks, 1998, Salisbury University
Erin Rantz, 2006, University of Mary
Washington
Carly Read, 2013, Salisbury University
Ali Ritter, 2009, Salisbury University
Tasha Thomas, 1993, University of Mary
Washington
Kelly Waskewicz, 2009, Salisbury University