Shufelt Earns Capital One Academic All-District Honors for Saint Joseph's

STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's College senior outfielder Danyelle Shufelt (Sutton, Vt.) has garnered Capital One Academic All-District® First Team All-Academic accolades.

Shufelt, the starting center fielder and a team captain for the Monks, is now eligible for even higher academic honors as all First Team recipients advance to the Capital One Academic Team ballot, where first, second and third team members will be selected later this month.

She is the second Saint Joseph's softball player to claim First Team All-District honors, as she joins former teammate Alyssa Dunn '11, who earned the same award en route to collecting Capital One Softball Academic All-America® Second Team honors in 2011.

A two-sport athlete and key contributor for the Monks' basketball and softball programs, Shufelt has appeared in 274 games while attending courses as a Biology/Pre-Physician's Assistant major during her dual-sport career. Her teams have posted a collective 199-78 (.718) overall record with her in uniform, an impressive total that includes a 120-55 (.686) mark in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play.

Shufelt's play has been pivotal during the softball team's three-year GNAC Championship run. In nine tournament contests she has hit .424 (14-33) with nine runs scored en route to claiming All-Tournament honors all three years. The senior standout has collected a bevy of awards during her two-sport career, including a pair of GNAC All-Academic Team accolades, First Team All-Conference honors her sophomore and senior years and Second Team All-GNAC mention as a freshman.

Also, Shufelt was recently honored as the 2013 Saint Joseph's College Female Student-Athlete of the Year. The high honor is bestowed upon the athlete (one female, one male) who best fits the student-athlete mold - excellence in the classroom as well as the athletic arena - on an annual basis and recipients are chosen by vote of Athletic Department coaches and staff.

Athletes are selected for academic acclaim by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). District 1 includes colleges and universities in New York and New England and the College Division encompasses all DII and DIII institutions in those states. For Shufelt, the regional academic honor is the first of her career.

Shufelt is currently hitting .465 (74-159) with 50 runs, five doubles, five triples, 20 RBI and 21 stolen bases in as many attempts. As of May 3rd, she leads the GNAC in at bats, runs, hits ranks third in steals, fourth in total bases (89) and fifth in batting average. Earlier this season she became the second player in program history to reach the 200-career-hit mark and is currently two hits shy of breaking the Monks' single-season hits record.

For her career, Shufelt owns a .384 (227-591) average with 14 doubles, six triples, 46 RBI and 49 stolen bases. She ranks as the Monks' all-time leader in at bats and is second in runs and hits and third in career steals. As a four-year member of the basketball team, she netted 771 points with 183 assists and 130 steals and made 83.3% (230-276) of her free throw attempts, the third-highest mark in SJC women's hoops history.

To be eligible for nomination by a CoSIDA member at their institution, the player must be a starter or important reserve with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.30 at his/her present institution, participate in at least 50 percent of the team's games, and have completed one full calendar year at his/her current institution and has reached sophomore athletic eligibility.

Saint Joseph's (33-9, 18-6 GNAC) will host Husson University in a doubleheader starting at 1:00 PM on Sunday. NCAA DIII Tournament pairings will be announced on Monday and regional tourney play begins on Thursday.

The Academic All-District® teams are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the second year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored.

The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.

The Capital One Division II and III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2012-13 DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams program.

*Release courtesy of Saint Joseph's College (ME) Sports Information