Coker’s James Sweeney Named Scholar Athlete of the Year

HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Coker College men's soccer player James Sweeney has been named the Conference Carolinas Men's Soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year for the second straight season, the league announced on Monday. The winners are voted on by the Student-Athlete Affairs Committee.

Sweeney, a senior mathematics major from Huntingtown, Md., boasts a perfect 4.0 GPA. He was the conference's defensive player of the year and a first team all-conference selection. Sweeney led Coker to a 12-4-1 record and its second consecutive regular-season conference championship. For the season, he allowed 13 goals, made 54 saves and posted seven shutouts. His 0.81 goals-against average was best in conference. In addition, Sweeney was an NSCAA All-Southeast Region second team selection.

In November, Sweeney was featured in an installment of NCAA On Campus, an online video program that profiles the top student-athletes and inspirational stories across the country. Produced by Lee Nassau, of DL Images, the video follows Sweeney's journey as a four-year starter as Coker's goalie, along with his success in the classroom. The link to the NCAA story can be found here.

The qualifications for the conference scholar athlete of the year award are the following: a student-athlete must be a junior or senior with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.25 or higher on a 4.0 scale in all work completed at their member institution that played in a conference-sponsored sport. The GPA is calculated based on the student-athletes' cumulative average through the previous semester and each student-athlete must have attended the member institution for at least one academic year. Additionally, in order to qualify for the award the student-athlete must be a current member of the first, second or third all-conference teams.

For the complete list of the 2012 fall scholar athletes of the year teams, click here.

For more information, contact Chris Dougherty, manager of athletics media relations, at 843-383-8018 or cdougherty@coker.edu.

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Coker College readies undergraduates for personal and professional success through a distinctive four-year program that emphasizes a practical application of the liberal arts as well as hands-on and discussion-based learning within and beyond the classroom. Coker is ranked among the "Best Colleges" in the South by U.S. News & World Report as well as The Princeton Review. Located in Hartsville, S.C., Coker is within two hours of the cultural, financial and recreational resources of Charlotte, Columbia, Charleston and Myrtle Beach.