Three Virginia Student-Athletes Earn ACC Postgraduate Honors

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Feb. 22, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ââ’¬” Three Virginia student-athletes have been honored with 2017 ACC Postgraduate Awards, as announced Wednesday (Feb. 22) by ACC Commissioner John Swofford. Breyana Mason (women’s basketball), Shannon Rauth (women’s swimming and diving) and Morgan Stearns (women’s soccer) are part of a list of 54 ACC student-athletes who have been selected for the Weaver-James-Corrigan Award.

The Weaver-James-Corrigan and Jim and Pat Thacker postgraduate scholarships are awarded to select student-athletes who intend to pursue a graduate degree following completion of their undergraduate requirements. Each recipient will receive $5,000 toward his or her graduate education. Those honored have performed with distinction in both the classroom and their respective sport, while demonstrating exemplary conduct in the community. An additional nine student-athletes who plan to enter a professional career in their chosen sport were named honorary recipients.

The student-athletes will be honored at the annual Cone Health ACC Postgraduate Luncheon hosted by the Nat Greene Kiwanis Club and presented by ESPN on April 12 at the Sheraton Four Seasons Hotel Imperial Ballroom in Greensboro.

Mason has scored over 1,000 points during her four years as a guard on the Virginia women’s basketball team. A two-time ACC All-Academic team member, she was honored last year by the Virginia Athletics Department as the recipient of the Ralph Sampson Award, presented to the third-year student who best demonstrated excellence in academics, leadership and athletics. Mason has also been active in the community from working on Habitat for Humanity builds to volunteering at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank to being a race day buddy at the Special Olympics Two-Miler.

Rauth entered her senior season as a five-time All-American in the 200 free relay, 400 medley relay and 400 free relay events. She helped the Cavaliers to ACC team championships in each of her first three seasons and back-to-back fifth-place finishes at the NCAA Championships in 2015 and 2016. She owns UVA top-10 times in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly events. Rauth has been named to the ACC Honor Honor Roll and ACC All-Academic team each year she swam at UVA.

A four-year starter, Stearns helped lead Virginia to four straight NCAA Tournaments, including back-to-back College Cups that included a runner-up finish in 2014 an NCAA Quarterfinal appearance in 2016 and the NCAA Round of 16 in 2017. Stearns set the UVA career record for wins with a 69-10-6 record and posted 33 solo shutouts. She also set the program record for consecutive shutout minutes by a keeper with 905 this season. A three-time ACC Academic Honor Roll selection, Stearns is also a two-time selection to the ACC Women’s Soccer All-Academic Team. Stearns is also two-time, first team CoSIDA Academic All-District selection. She is also the latest recipient of the Gray-Carrington Award at Virginia.

The Weaver-James-Corrigan Award is named in honor of the late Jim Weaver and Bob James, as well as Gene Corrigan, the first three ACC commissioners. The league’s first commissioner, James H. Weaver, served the conference from 1954-70 after a stint as the Director of Athletics at Wake Forest. His early leadership and uncompromising integrity are largely responsible for the excellent reputation enjoyed by the ACC today.

Robert C. James, a former Maryland football player, was named commissioner in 1971 and served in that capacity for 16 years. During his tenure, the league continued to grow in stature and became recognized as a national leader in athletics and academics, winning 23 national championships and maintaining standards of excellence in the classroom.

Eugene F. Corrigan assumed his role as the third full-time commissioner on September 1, 1987, and served until August of 1997. During Corrigan’s tenure, ACC schools captured 30 NCAA championships and two national football titles.