Four St. Mary's Men's Tennis Players Named ITA Scholar-Athletes
Skillman, N.J. – Four members of the St. Mary's College of Maryland men's tennis team were named by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association as Division III Scholar-Athletes.
Graduated seniors Thomas Hoesman (Columbia, Md./Howard) and Elliot Russell (Freeport, Maine/Freeport) as well as rising juniors John Feighner (Laurel, Md./Atholton) and Andrew Gear (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) all represented St. Mary's as ITA Scholar-Athletes for the 2011-12 academic year.
Russell finished his Seahawk career as a four-time ITA Scholar-Athlete while Hoesman repeated the honor after first earning the distinction as a sophomore in 2010. This is Gear's second consecutive selection as an ITA Scholar-Athlete.
St. Mary's was one of two Capital Athletic Conference institutions to have athletes named to the Division III list as the University of Mary Washington had two players selected.
In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet the following criteria: 1.) be a varsity letter winner, 2.) have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and 3.) have been enrolled at their present school for at least 2 semesters (including first-year through senior year).
The Seahawks (17-4, 6-1 CAC) registered at least 10 wins for the fourth consecutive season as St. Mary's wrapped up the 2011-12 campaign with a record-breaking 17 victories, surpassing the original record of 13 set by last season's squad, while the six league wins is the most in program history. St. Mary's entered this year's league tournament as the second seed for the first-time ever and advanced to the CAC semifinals.
Hoesman and Gear notched impressive accomplishments this season as well. Hoesman garnered his first-ever postseason accolade as he was named second team All-CAC at No. 3 singles. Hoesman finished his last season as a Seahawk with a 19-5 singles record, including a 6-1 league mark. As a team captain, he ended his four-year career as the school's all-time leader in doubles wins with 38, amassing 38-35 singles and 38-28 doubles records as a Seahawk.
Gear, who owns a perfect 4.0 GPA in his four semesters as a Seahawk, picked up his second consecutive all-conference selection with a second team nod at No. 1 singles. He posted an impressive 21-4 record in singles action, including a 6-1 mark in CAC play. Gear set the program's single-season singles wins record at 21, surpassing his own mark of 19 from last year. He won four consecutive matches en route to claiming the B Division #3 singles flight at the USTA ITA Southeast Regional Championships on October 1-3. Gear boasts a 40-6 singles career record in just two years as a Seahawk, becoming the program's all-time leader in singles wins as he broke the old mark of 38 set by Jason Whiteman '99.
