PARAMUS, N.J. – During the 2013-14 academic year, Bergen Community College student athletes starred on the field – and in the classroom.
With a combined GPA of 3.43, men’s outdoor track and field earned the National Junior College Athletic Association “Academic Team of the Year” honor, an award recognizing the top-performing team in each of the NJCAA’s 26 sports. Including Bergen, only three of the 35 Region XIX schools featured an “Academic Team of the Year” – Ocean County College (men’s swimming and diving) and Brookdale Community College (women’s cross country). Team members are:
- Edgar Aguilar, of Passaic;
- Ivan Aleksyeyenko, of Clifton;
- Curtis Browne, of Westwood;
- Edwin Gomez, of Guttenberg;
- Kevin Manansala, of Lodi;
- Vincent Maresca, of Cliffside Park;
- Brandon Walsh, of Paramus;
- Wallace Payne, of Lodi;
- Jacob Angu, of Teaneck;
- Keanu Adams, of Teaneck.
Additionally, six men and women received “Academic Student Athlete Awards” from the NJCAA for maintaining a GPA above 3.6. They are:
- Curtis Browne, of Westwood, men’s outdoor track and field, 3.83 GPA;
- Lauren Hozak, of Carlstadt, women’s softball, 3.63 GPA;
- Elif Karacayir, of Palisades Park, women’s cross country, 3.9 GPA;
- Ardijana Kolenovic, of Lodi, women’s volleyball, 3.76 GPA;
- Gina Lobue, of Clifton, women’s soccer, 3.8 GPA;
- Victoria Tahhan, of Hackensack, women’s cross country, 3.6 GPA.
Six Bergen sports – men’s golf, men’s outdoor track and field, men’s soccer, women’s cross country, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball – earned “All-Academic Team” honors from the NJCAA for maintaining GPAs above 3.0. With six teams recognized, Bergen placed second among its Region XIX peers.
Jorge Hernandez, of Teaneck, leads the success of student athletes as Bergen’s managing director of athletics.
Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu) based in Paramus is a public two-year coeducational college, enrolling nearly 17,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip J. Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields.
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