COLCHESTER, Vt. - Twenty-six recent Saint Michael's College student-athlete graduates were recognized this week with the sixth annual Northeast 10 Conference Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence. It marked the sixth consecutive year at least 18 Purple Knights landed the accolade.
 
The award recognizes graduating NE10 student-athletes who attained at least magna cum laude standing at their institution, participated in at least two seasons of NE10 competition, and were a current student-athlete at the time of graduation. At Saint Michael's, students with a cumulative grade-point average between 3.7 and 3.9 earn magna cum laude, while those at 3.9 or higher qualify for summa cum laude. A College-high five of the 26 hailed from men's ice hockey.
 
2026 Northeast 10 Conference Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence

• Owen Balfour (Mashpee, Mass./Mashpee), men's lacrosse
• Matthew Bellis (Groton, Mass./Austin Prep), men's lacrosse
• Erin Boyd (Islip, N.Y./Saint Anthony's), women's cross country
• Ryan Canty (Shelburne, Vt./Champlain Valley Union), baseball
• Jackson Cole (Newark, Del./Vernal Oilers), men's ice hockey
• Kathleen Dean (Auburn, Maine/Saint Dominic Academy), field hockey
• Ellie Drinkwater (North Kingstown, R.I./North Kingstown), women's lacrosse
• Brooke Edgerly (Morley, Mich./Morley Stanwood), softball
• Casey Gunnip (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse/Saint Rose), baseball
• Faith Kosiba (Dunstable, Mass./Groton-Dunstable Regional), women's soccer
• Rafael Kowal (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Plattsburgh/Alfred State), men's swimming & diving
• Cole Manahan (Hermantown, Minn./Vernal Oilers), men's ice hockey
• Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), men's basketball
• Gavin Nelson (Winona, Minn./Winona Senior), men's swimming & diving
• Arianna Petta (Brookfield, Conn./Immaculate), women's swimming & diving
• Connor Quirbach (Lowell, Mass./Chelmsford), men's swimming & diving
• Silas Recica-Sullivan (Bakersfield, Vt./Twin City Thunder), men's ice hockey
• Benjamin Riggs (Plainville, Mass./King Philip Regional), men's lacrosse
• Bridget Shaw (Norwell, Mass./Norwell), women's soccer
• Ashley Silveira (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk), women's swimming & diving
• Jocelyn Sommers (Dalton, Mass./Wahconah Regional), women's cross country/outdoor track
• Matti Tauriainen (Grapevine, Texas/Valley Jr. Warriors), men's ice hockey
• Livy Waranis (Narragansett, R.I./Narragansett), women's swimming & diving
• Dana Welch (Howell, N.J./Donovan Catholic), women's volleyball
• Abbie Whitley (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry), women's lacrosse
• Nick Wracker (Columbia, S.C./Northeast Generals), men's ice hockey

While their teams don't compete in the NE10, five additional graduates also achieved magna cum laude honors or higher: women's ice hockey's Annika Lavender (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) and Emersynn McGillis (Ottawa, Ontario/Nepean Jr. Wildcats), Nordic skiers Astrid Bakke (Nedre Høvik, Norway/Dønski VGS) and Clara Wyatt (Bozeman, Mont./Bozeman), and Alpine skiing's Lawton Jones (Williston, Vt./Green Mountain Valley School).