WATERBURY, Conn. - - Prior to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Semifinals, the conference office presented the All-Conference Teams and Major Awards, along with the CACC Top XVI Awards for academic excellence. The Wildcats swept the Top XVI Award for soccer as Krysta Memis and Jackson Brandwene won for their respective sports.
The CACC Top XVI Award is modeled after the NCAA Elite 90 Award and is a direct product of the CACC Strategic Plan. The Top XVI Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the CACC championships. In order to be considered, the student-athlete must have earned at least 48 college credits toward their GPA (at their current institution), as well as a member of the active roster. In the event of a tie, it is broken by the total number of credit hours earned.
Krysta Memis (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.) graduated with a degree in Legal Studies from Wilmington University with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. She has continued that academic success into her graduate degree, studying for her MBA while holding onto that 4.0 grade point average through the first block of the semester. She was a Second Team All-CACC performer this year as well as a CoSIDA Academic All-District 1 honoree with a chance to be voted in as a CoSIDA Academic All-American next month. She scored five goals and added five assists in aiding the Wildcats to the CACC Tournament Championship game.
Jackson Brandwene (Pittsburgh, Pa.) will be graduating from Wilmington University just three years into his Legal Studies degree. He is carrying a 3.98 cumulative grade point average while completing 115 credits. He will be graduating from Wilmington University and attending law school. He has helped the Wildcats to a 16-3-1 overall record, the No. 2 seed in the CACC Tournament, and now the No. 3 seed in the NCAA DII Super-Region 1 Tournament.
The pair join men's cross country's Logan Strouse as winner of the CACC Top XVI award in the 2021-22 academic school year so far.