LAKEWOOD, N.J. - - Prior to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Volleyball Tournament Semifinals, the conference office presented the All-Conference Teams and Major Awards, along with the CACC Top XVI Awards for academic excellence. For the fourth time this fall, the award went to a Wilmington University Wildcat, as Grace Morton took home the prize.
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.
Grace Morton (Bear, Del.) will be graduating from Wilmington University with a degree in accounting. She is currently carrying a 3.99 cumulative grade point average while completing 96 credits at Wilmington University. Due to transfer rules and COVID-19, Morton was only able to play one season for the Wildcats, contributing 196 digs for a 1.09 digs per set average. She also had 22 service aces on the year to go with 38 assists in 94 sets played.
Morton joins men's soccer's Jackson Brandwene, women's soccer's Krysta Memis, and men's cross country's Logan Strouse as Wilmington student-athletes that have won the award in the 2021-22 academic school year so far.