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CAPE COD, Mass. - Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Commissioner Rudy Keeling announced today the six recipients of the ECAC Robbins Scholar-Athlete Awards. Sponsored by the Cincinnati-based sports surfaces company, the Robbins Scholar-Athlete Awards honor the outstanding academic and athletic achievements of student-athletes representing ECAC schools in Divisions I, II, and III. One male and one female student-athlete from each division are selected based on extraordinary achievements in academics, athletics, and community service.

This year's winners of the ECAC Robbins Scholar-Athlete Awards are Sue Weber (Hofstra) and Jeff Grantham (St. John's University) in Division I, Dely Francisco (Adelphi University) and Steve Dagostino (The College of St. Rose) in Division II, and Ashley VanVechten (University of Rochester) and Michael Hoffman (Stevens Institute of Technology) in Division III. They will receive their awards on Sunday, September 28, at the ECAC Convention Honors Dinner at the Albany Crowne Plaza. 

Weber, a defender on the Hofstra women's soccer team, was a two-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-American and a three-time first team All-Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) selection. A three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year and two-time CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, she led Hofstra to its first two conference titles and NCAA appearances, including a spot in the second round in 2007. Her academic accomplishments are equally impressive. A first team College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, Weber was also the CAA Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for all sports. A two-time CAA women's soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year, she was a first team National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Scholar All-American. A physical education major with a 3.90 GPA, she was also one of 20 finalists nationally for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. She has volunteered for Special Olympics, at a soup kitchen at her local church, and at numerous soccer clinics.

Grantham, a shortstop on the St. John's baseball team, posted a 3.97 GPA in physics. He earned first team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors for the second straight year. A team co-captain, Grantham hit .343 with a team-best .469 on-base percentage and earned third team All-BIG EAST accolades. A member of Chi Alpha Sigma, the Scholar-Athlete National Honor Society, and Phi Eta Sigma, the Freshman National Honor Society, Grantham was also selected to the Dean's List and Athletic Director's Honor Roll every semester. Off the diamond, he is one of 25 senior class members of the St. John's University President's Society, the highest honor a St. John's student can receive. He has volunteered at the St. Nick's Men's Homeless Shelter, and is a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

Francisco, an outfielder on the Adelphi softball team, was a first team All-East Coast Conference (ECC) selection and a two-time ECC Softball Scholar Athlete of the Year (2006 and 2008). She hit .389 with two home runs and 19 RBI over 62 games, and was 12th in the nation in stolen bases, safely stealing 51 of 55 attempts. A 2008 Daktronics All-Region selection, she was also a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America first team All-District selection. Francisco holds the Adelphi single season records for at bats (216), runs scored (51), hits (84), and stolen bases (51) and is the career leader in stolen bases (92). A physical education major with a 3.91 GPA, Francisco won the Jay B. Nash Outstanding Major Award in 2007, given to the top physical education major in New York state. Off the field, she has volunteered with the Walk for Autism and the Games for the Physically Challenged. Francisco has been a Student Athlete Advisory Committee executive board member since 2004, and an Excel mentor, assisting incoming freshmen in adjusting to the first year college experience. 

Dagostino, a guard on The College of St. Rose men's basketball team, had a 3.83 GPA in accounting and led his team to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. A two-time Northeast-10 Player of the Year, Dagostino is one of only five players in league history to win the award in back-to-back seasons. Chosen as the ECAC Division II Player of the Year, he is the only player in St. Rose history to amass 1,500 points, 500 assists and 200 steals. A two-time CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine first team Academic All-American, he was named the NE-10 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year (all sports). He led the NE-10 in steals (2.52 spg), ranked second in assists (5.90 apg), third in scoring (18.3 ppg), and fourth in free throw percentage (.888). Nationally, he was eighth in free throw percentage, 14^th in steals, and 18^th in assists. He was selected to the College Basketball Invitational that included 65 of the top college players from Divisions II, III and NAIA, and then was one of 20 players selected to the CBI All-Star game. Off the court, he was part of a group of players from the CBI that visited local elementary schools.    

VanVechten, a defender on the University of Rochester women's soccer team, earned a 3.7 GPA in history and German and received a Fulbright Scholarship and an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship. She will spend the next year in Germany as an English teaching assistant in a secondary school while continuing her study of the German language and history. VanVechten has already studied abroad twice, first in Berlin in 2006 and then in Ghana in 2007, teaching math and science. On the pitch, she was a first team All-University Athletic Association (UAA) defender during each of her four seasons, and a three-time All-American, including a spot on the first team as a sophomore and junior. A CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine second team Academic All-American, VanVechten was named to the NSCAA Scholar All-America team twice. In May of 2008, she was named the University of Rochester's top senior female athlete. She has coached youth soccer for the past eight years, and volunteered at the Mount Hope Family Center in the community. 

Hoffman, a middle distance runner at Stevens, boasts a 3.98 GPA in biomedical engineering. Over the course of his career, he has set 27 school records. A 2006 Skyline All-Conference selection in cross country, Hoffman was an ECAC Indoor Track qualifier in the 4 x 800 relay in 2007 and the 800 meters in 2008. At the 2007 ECAC Outdoor Track Championship, he qualified in the 800 meters and the 4 x 400 relay. A 2007 second team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, Hoffman ranked No. 7 in his senior class. A 2007 Empire 8 Presidents' List selection, Hoffman was named the 2008 Empire 8 Senior Scholar-Athlete. Off the track, he attended the 2006 NCAA/CHAMPS National Leadership Conference, and volunteered at Light the Night community service. His senior design project was on a new type of testing for diabetes.

About the ECAC^®
The ECAC is the nation's largest athletic and the only multi-divisional conference in the country with 321 Divisions I, II, and III colleges and universities.  The ECAC stretches from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Illinois. Established in 1938, the ECAC, a non-profit service organization, sponsors more than 100 championships in 37 men's and women's sports and assigns more than 4,400 officials in 12 sports.  The ECAC also administers eight affiliate sports organizations and six playing leagues, and through the public relations arm of the conference, more than 2,500 student-athletes in 23 sports are recognized annually.  Finally, the ECAC serves as the primary conference for select members in the sports of men's and women's ice hockey and men's lacrosse.