April 24, 2012
NORFOLK, VA--seniors Jocelyn Weidner (Harrisburg, PA.) of women's soccer and Krzysztof Muzalewski (Torun, Poland) of men's tennis were named 2012 recipients of the Jack Wilkins/James Howard Scholar Athletes of the Year while ODU two-sport star of soccer and lacrosse Lisa Bernardini (Langhorne, PA. ) and Football All-American Ronnie Cameron (Westbury, NY.) were named Athletes of the Year by the Old Dominion University Alumni Association at the annual Old Dominion University Athletic honors banquet, held at the Ted Constant Convocation Center Tuesday night.
The Jack Wilkins/James Howard Scholar Athletes of the Year are presented to the male and female senior athletes with the highest cumulative grade point average. Both Howard and Wilkins were instrumental in the formation of the ODU Intercollegiate Foundation, now the Old Dominion AthleticFoundation.
Krzysztof Muzalewski (Torun, Poland) of men's tennis. has already defeated two nationally ranked opponents this season and earned second team All-CAA honors in singles. Muzalewski was also selected CAA Player of the week honors and helped lead ODU to the CAA semifinals . He will graduate with a degree in economics and finance with a 3.91 grade point average.
Jocelyn Weidner(Harrisburg, PA.) started 19 games at midfield for the Lady Monarchs. She scored ODU's first goal of the season and also assisted on goals against N.C. State and Arizona State. Weidner finished the season with three goals and two assists for eight points. The nursing major will graduate with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
Lisa Bernardini, is one of a few two-sport athletes in recent ODU history . The senior lacrosse midfielder finished her career as the second all-time in assists in school history with 66. She earned All-CAA accolades as a junior in 2011 and was named to the preseason All-CAA team in 2012. She has twice been named the CAA Player of the Week this season . She has scored multiple goals in eight games this season and tallied a team high 34 goals along with 15 assists for 49 total points. She is fourth on ODU's all-time points list with 190 and tied for sixth in all-time goals with 124.
In women's soccer Bernardini started all 19 games at midfield where she led the team with six goals, six assists and 18 points . She scored the game-winning goal in the 3-1 victory over Arizona State,and scored career-best two goals and added an assist in a 3-2 win over UNCW. She was selected second Team All-CAA in soccer. Bernardini is majoring in health and physical education.
Ronnie Cameron is the 2011 CAA Football Defensive Player of the Year. He ranked second on the Monarch squad with 73 tackles (28 solo, 45 assisted) to go with a team-leading 17 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. He averaged 5.6 tackles per game, which was fourth among defensive lineman in the CAA and finished second in the league in tackles for loss averaging 1.31 per contest. Cameron maintained a 3.46 grade point average while completing his MBA in Information Technology. He earned All-America accolades from seven different publications in 2011, including first team honors from the AFCA, The Sports Network, and Beyond College Sports Network, as well as second team accolades from the AP and Phil Steele. Cameron finished his undergraduate degree in three years before graduating in December with his MBA. He captured a career-high 11 tackles along with a season-best 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks against CAA Champion Towson. The senior helped the Monarchs to their first-ever Top-10 ranking by making 10 stops with three for loss against James Madison in route to a 10-3 record and advancing to the second round of the FSC Football Playoffs. Last week, Cameron was presented the Tom Scott Award by the Norfolk Sports Club as the top senior athlete at ODU.