Sixty-five Florida Southern student-athletes are among the 476 named to the Sunshine State Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll for the 2008 spring semester.  The Moccasins’ total of 65 is the most for any of the nine SSC schools on the spring honor roll.  Of the total of 476 named, 69 produced a perfect 4.00 grade point average for the semester.  Florida Southern had 23 of the 69 student-athletes with 4.00 GPAs, also the most among the nine schools. 

To be eligible for the spring honor roll, a student-athlete needed a minimum 3.20 GPA for the spring semester.  Participants in baseball, basketball, golf, softball and tennis were eligible. 

FSC’s honorees on the Spring SSC Commissioner’s Honor Roll (4.00 students in bold): 

Baseball (15) – Stephen Batman, Will Cherry, Randy Cseh, Colin Kaline, Wade Kirkland, Tyler Lacertosa, Zach Maggard, Chris Maula, Arden McWilliams, Adam Miller, Jeremiah Oyer, Tristan Rainone, Robbie Shields, Patrick Szczerba, Daniel Tillman

Women’s Basketball (7) – Nicolle DiRaimo, Alli Fogle, Emer Foley, Willamina Folks, Katie O’Neil, Tanja Speaker, Victoria Vanacore

Men’s Basketball (5) – Eric Fernandez, Andrei Grant, Braxton Williams, Jordan Williams, Cameron Wooten 

Women’s Golf (6) – Marianne Andersson, Jackie Barenborg, Lindsey Bergeon, Emily Flanigan, Katie Jared, Kim Ulander 

Men’s Golf (4) – Jude Eustaquio, Robert Gleixner, Cameron Peterson, Matt Stauch 

Softball (11) – Peggy Alex, Amanda Atun, Dani Blake, Morgan Brown, Heidi Grondahl, Elli Howell, Amanda Kaiser, Natalie Lang, Sara Lovestrand, Tori Mosley, Lindsey Powell 

Women’s Tennis (7) – Nora Baertschi, Erin Conroy, Ashley Hungerford, Jessica McCarty, Mona Sendesni, Senka Softic, Karolina Stochlova 

Men’s Tennis (10) – J.J. Bolock, Brian deMontfort, Ray Duyungan, Guenther Fercher, Greg Heartt, Michael Knoedler, Justin LaFlamme, Roman Schirmaier, Ben Taylor, Alex Thesleff 

Earlier this year the NCAA announced that the Sunshine State Conference led all 24 Division II conferences with an Academic Success Rate of  85 percent. 

A LOOK BACK AT 2007-08

Even though the Moccasins did not add another national championship to their already crowded trophy case, the 2007-08 athletic season still was very successful.

Led by the men's golf team's sixth-place national finish, eight Florida Southern teams qualified for NCAA postseason play. In addition to the golf team's national finish, the men's cross country team advanced to the national meet, where it finished 21st. FSC was represented at NCAA regional competition in men's and women's cross country, volleyball, men's basketball, men's and women's golf and men's and women's tennis.  The Moccasins claimed the runner-up positions in both golf national championships.  Jude Eustaquio tied for first and then lost in a playoff for the men's title and Heather Burgner placed second in the women's championship, just four strokes behind the winner. Carolyne Kwambai represented FSC at the women's national cross country meet, placing 55th.

In the Sunshine State Conference, men's basketball enjoyed a history-making worst to first finish, becoming the first school to capture both the regular season and tournament titles just one year after finishing last in the standings. The men's golf and cross country teams also claimed SSC titles, while baseball, women's cross country, women's golf and volleyball placed second in their respective SSC races.

The SSC titles won in 2007-08 give FSC a total of 256 league championships, 81 more than has been won by any other Sunshine State Conference program.

The men's program captured the SSC Mayors' Cup for a 10th time, while the women's program, which also has captured 10 SSC All-Sports Trophies, finished third in 2007-08. FSC has now won twice as many Mayors' Cups as any other SSC institution. Nationally, FSC placed 39th out of 232 Division II schools in the U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup national all-sports standings.

Twelve Moccasins were named to their respective All-America teams. Jude Eustaquio was honored with the Phil Mickelson Award as the Most Outstanding Freshman in NCAA Division II men's golf. Amy Clampitt-Holsenbeck became the first FSC women's soccer player to earn All-America honors when she was selected to the Daktronics first-team.

Retired cross country coach Buck Dawson joined former softball pitcher Julianne Coleman Dunham and two-time national champion women's golfer Jana Peterkova in the SSC Hall of Fame, giving Florida Southern 39 inductees in the hall, 13 more than any other SSC school. Dawson was also named to the Polk County Sports Hall of Fame.

Championship Athletics
A Florida Southern Tradition

"Florida Southern College is proud of our student-athletes' accomplishments both on and off the fields and courts of competition. Moccasin athletic teams have won 26 NCAA Division II national championships and have finished as national runners-up 16 times. Florida Southern has won 156 conference championships and produced over 400 All-Americans. We are exceptionally proud of our NCAA graduation rate of 82 percent and our 69 Academic All-Americans and All-American Scholars. Come be part of one of the pre-eminent athletic programs in the nation and help maintain our championship tradition at Florida Southern College.” -- Pete Meyer, FSC Director of Athletics.

Florida Southern competes in the NCAA Division II and is a charter member of the Sunshine State Conference. The Mocs offer 18 intercollegiate sports including men's teams in: baseball, basketball, cross country/track*, golf, lacrosse**, soccer, swimming, and tennis; and women's teams in basketball, cross country/track*, golf, soccer, softball, swimming,  tennis, and volleyball.

* Florida Southern offers the opportunity for runners to compete intercollegiately in distance events in track. However, FSC does not compete in field events.

**Men's Lacrosse will begin with the 2008-09 season and will compete in the Deep South Conference.