BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo swept the Mid-American Conference's Scholar Athlete of the Week awards as men's track and field athlete Jake Madonia and women's diver Meili Carpenter were honored for their athletic and academic success. The league announced the awards from its Cleveland headquarters this morning.
Madonia, a senior exercise science major with a 3.36 grade point average, won his first Mid-American Conference title with his victory in the shot put at the league's indoor track and field championships in Mt. Pleasant, MI last Saturday. His winning throw of 59-2.25 (18.04m) was 14 inches better than the second-place throw and the only throw to exceed 18 meters as he added nearly seven inches to his NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the event. Madonia had previously finished third in the shot put at the 2007 and 2009 MAC Championships.
Carpenter, a senior science education major with a 3.77 grade point average, won both diving competitions at the Mid-American Conference Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in Oxford, OH. Carpenter won the one-meter diving event with 301.45 points to remain undefeated on the one-meter board during the 2009-10 season. She also won the three-meter competition with a school record 350.65 points, nearly 70 points ahead of the second-place finisher and was named the league's Diver of the Year.
The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week honor is presented to a MAC male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better and performs well during the week's competition. The winners are selected by a group of the conference's faculty athletic representatives.