BRITANNIE MCGREGOR
WESTFIELD – Two star members of Westfield State University’s championship women’s soccer squad are also excelling in the classroom as senior Brittanie McGregor and junior Jess Habif have been named to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-District soccer team.
McGregor and Habif (see related story), were selected to the District I squad that encompasses NCAA Division III colleges in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. The prestigious team was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The Academic All-District squad includes student-athletes from MIT, Endicott, Middlebury, Keene State, Norwich, and Wellesley. This is first time Westfield has had two players from the same team earn All-District academic honors.
McGregor is a senior elementary education from Ludlow and has a 3.77 grade point average. The first team all-conference selection was the Owls’ second leading scorer this season with 35 points and tied a single-season school record with 15 assists.
Habif, a junior from Natick who attended Holliston High School, owns a 3.75 grade point average and is majoring in athletic training. Habif was a first team all-conference goalie and set a school record this season for goals against average (.400), allowing only seven goals in 20 games.
JESS HABIF
“This is a great honor for both Brittanie and Jess and we congratulate them on their outstanding academic and athletic accomplishments,” said Westfield State athletics director Richard Lenfest. “We have had a number of outstanding student-athletes in my eight years at Westfield and we are constantly striving to maintain that trend.”
Nine Westfield State student-athletes have earned Academic All-District ® honors in the past four years. Other Owls honored were: Amanda Gricus (track and field), Josh Blair (baseball), Rachel Dionne (lacrosse/cross country), Stephanie Bartkus (volleyball) Alicia Gardner (softball), Kerry Arouca (track and field/cross country), and Kate MacLellan (soccer).
As first-team All-District selections, McGregor’s and Habif’s names have been forwarded to the Academic All-America selection committee, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will selected later this month. The Academic All-District ® teams are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada.
To be eligible for Academic All-America ® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
