CAPE COD, Mass. – Lock Haven University junior indoor track and field runner Keith Veldhuis (Thamesford, Ontario/Ingersoll DCI) and senior field hockey midfielder Katie Stewartz (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) were named as recipients of the 2004-05 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Robbins Scholar-Athlete Institutional Award, ECAC commissioner Phil Buttafuoco announced today (June 20). 

Veldhuis had an outstanding season, making the All-PSAC track and field team.  He was the individual champion for the PSAC Indoor track and field heptathlon and also garnered the prestigious PSAC Winter Top-10 honors.  Veldhuis was selected to the 2005 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II College Division Men's Track and Field/Cross Country Team.  He also holds the highest current GPA of any student-athlete with a 3.977.   He is a health and physical education major. 

Stewartz also acquired an impressive list of awards, including NEC Player of the Week on October 11 and All-NEC team honors.  A three-time NFHCA National Academic Squad member, Stewartz has posted a 3.81 grade point average as a health and physical education major.

The award recognizes students who showed outstanding academic and athletic achievements during the 2004-05 school year.  The ECAC is the nation’s largest athletic and the only multi-divisional conference with 324 Divisions I, II, and III colleges and universities from Maine to North Carolina. Established in 1938, the ECAC, a non-profit service organization, sponsors 100 championships in 37 men’s and women’s sports, assigns more than 5,100 officials in 15 sports, administers ten affiliate sports organizations and six playing leagues and recognizes more than 4,000 student-athletes in 21 sports through the public relations arm of the conference.