Middletown, Pa. - On Friday, June 23rd, Athletic Director, Rahsaan Carlton announced that Penn State Harrisburg men's soccer forward Victor Weaver and cross country/women's track and field standout Ashley Williams were named the school's 2016-2017 Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year.
The Penn State Harrisburg Student-Athlete of the Year is awarded to the male and female student-athlete who has excelled above and beyond normal standards academically and athletically. In addition, the recipients of this award demonstrated strong leadership abilities. Both Victor and Ashley are exemplary students and athletes who have made significant contributions to Penn State Harrisburg athletics in their time here.
Victor Weaver had a tremendous junior year for the men's soccer program by helping to lead the Lions to a fourth place regular season finish in the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) and a trip to the conference playoffs. After the conference playoffs, the Lions were selected to compete in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament where the team eventually lost in the semi-finals.
Individually, Weaver led the CAC in assists as well as being the top point earner for the Lions. He either scored a goal or had an assist in 11 of the 13 wins for Penn State Harrisburg last season. His efforts this past year did not go unnoticed. Weaver claimed an ALL-CAC second team honor along with being named ALL-ECAC and making the ECAC All-Tournament team.
According to his Coach Dan Krzyzanowicz, "Victor is a great teammate, puts others first, and is truly a leader who leads by example. As captain instead of pushing responsibility on others, he helps with equipment daily and also helps all his teammates on and off the field."
In terms of being a student, Victor does extremely well and currently has a 3.33 GPA. Not too bad considering English is his second language.
Our female athlete of the year winner Ashley Williams is also a three sport athlete. Ashley started her fall with the cross country team, before moving to her dominate sports of indoor/outdoor track and field. Williams not only led Penn State Harrisburg's indoor track and field team this past winter, she came home with a CAC championship in the 60 meter hurdles.
In addition, she also broke her own championship meet record when she claimed a second straight victory at the CAC indoor championship. Her record breaking time earned her a trip to the ECAC championships where she also took first place and a trip to the NCAA Championships. Ashley earned second team All-American status after placing 11th at the indoor nationals.
"Growth, trust, and transformation remain a constant theme for Ashley Williams on her journey to being a national champion. This year she took a great step toward that goal by making it to the national championship. She is a trailblazer for our team for women's sports at Penn State and for her family." Head Coach Danielle Lynch continued her praise for Ashley by saying, "as she gets stronger, faster, and more mature, she refocuses her sights on the title for next year."
On the academic side, Ashley Williams finished her school year with a 3.37 GPA.