BOWIE STATE'S MARIELA HERNANDEZ RECEIVES ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

(CLEVELAND) The Division II Athletics Directors Association (D2ADA) announced the 2011-12 recipients of the D2ADA Academic Achievement Awards. The Academic Achievement Awards is a program that recognizes the academic accomplishments of student-athletes at the Division II level. Among those honored is Bowie State University softball player Mariela Hernandez.

Hernandez, a pitcher for the Lady Bulldogs softball team ended the 2012 season with a 3.84 ERA and appeared in 19 games. Other accolades for Hernandez include All-CIAA Second Team (2012), CIAA All-Rookie Team (2011) and CIAA All-Tournament Team (2011).

A record number of institutions (118) and student-athletes (4,492) are being recognized for the 2011-12 Academic Achievement Awards. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Association had 557 student-athletes honored, a record-high for the program, followed by the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) with 400 student-athletes being recognized and the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) with 398 student-athletes being acknowledged with this award.

"The D2ADA would like to thank and congratulate the institutions that took part in honoring the record-number of 4,492 student-athletes with 2011-12 Academic Achievement Awards," stated D2ADA President Anita Barker, director of athletics at Chico State University. "Recognizing and honoring deserving Division 2 student-athletes is a strategic goal of the D2ADA. This award gives us the platform to showcase these individuals and their efforts in the classroom, as well as on the playing field."