July 17, 2007
Center Valley, Pa. - Navy's Chris Renninger was voted the 2006-07 Patriot League Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, announced Executive Director Carolyn Schlie Femovich Tuesday. Renninger earned the Patriot League's highest honor after being named the 2007 Patriot League Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Renninger ranks first in his class of 1,073 members heading into his senior year at the Naval Academy. The two-time Patriot League Academic honor roll member boasts a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade-point average and has earned a perfect mark in seven consecutive semesters, including Summer 2006. He has been named to the Commandant's List five times, the Dean's List four times and the Superintendent's List twice.
At the 2007 Patriot League Golf Championship, Renninger finished second to earn First-Team All-Patriot League honors for the second year in a row. The rising senior competed in 10 events this past year and posted a team-best 75.6 stroke average. He was Navy's top finisher in four events, posting two top-five finishes, three top-10 finishes and five top-20 finishes.
Renninger became the fourth Midshipmen to be named Patriot League Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year following in the footsteps of Toby Moore (baseball, 1995), Billy Hurley (golf, 2004) and Trevor Thompson (baseball, 2005). Renninger and Hurley are the only golf student-athletes to take home this prestigious honor.
This year marked just the third time the same school earned both the Patriot League Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards. Navy track and field student-athlete Kirsten Andrews won the 2006-07 Patriot League Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. In 1994 Colgate's Jen Smith (women's basketball) and Ray Appenheimer (cross country/track and field) won and in 2000 Bucknell swept the awards with Becki Marshall (cross country/track and field) sharing the honors with a Lafayette's Alison Fisher (field hockey/women's lacrosse) and Ron Hess (track and field) winning outright.
The winner of each sport's Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is put in the running towards the Patriot League Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors. Others in contention for the Patriot League Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award were American's Conor Lanz (men's cross country), Army's Bill Watts (men's soccer), Bucknell's Joshua Kaehler (men's outdoor track and field), Chris McNaughton (men's basketball), David Mante (men's indoor track and field) and Ira Reibeisen (men's tennis), Lafayette's James Conrad (baseball) and Brad Maurer (football), Lehigh's Tom Gilbert (men's swimming and diving), and Navy's Colin Finnegan (men's lacrosse).
To be eligible for the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average and be a starter or key player in his/her sport. Freshmen are not eligible for this honor.
