Knoop receives NCAA Completion Award

SAULT STE. MARIE – Lake Superior State senior softball player Lacey Knoop (Reed City, Mich.) received an NCAA Degree Completion Award and will return to LSSU to finish her course work in athletic training.

The NCAA established the Division II Degree-Completion Award Program in 2001 to provide deserving student-athletes financial assistance for them to complete their first baccalaureate degree. To date, over $2 million has been given to approximately 600 deserving student-athletes. Of those student-athletes who have received the award since its inception, 93 percent have earned their undergraduate degree using this program.

Knoop was a four-year starter for the LSSU softball team. As the Lakers’ lead-off batter in 2010, she batted .243, and she played shortstop. She is a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference All-Academic honoree with a 3.1 grade point average.

The challenge of balancing a year-long commitment to softball with course work and a demanding clinical schedule makes it nearly impossible for athletic training students to graduate in four years. Knoop was an outstanding candidate for the scholarship.

“Being a student-athlete in the athletic training program is a little different than some other programs because of the clinical requirements (200 hours per semester for four semesters),” said Associate Professor Joe Susi, A.T.C. “Students are not admitted into the athletic training program until their junior year. Some schools make the students choose between sports and athletic training. If we can find a way to make it work, we will. In Lacey’s case, she did clinicals during the fall semester and played softball in the spring for two years. She’ll do her final 400 hours this year, and she’s also double majoring in exercise science.”