Barney, Bertrand, and Wurmser Earn CSC At-Large Academic All-District Honors

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Junior Women's Ice Hockey player Juliette Barney (Braintree, MA), and sophomores Carlen Bertrand (Timmins, ON), and Belle Wurmser (Brick, NJ) have earned All-District recognition by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American program.

This is the first time Barney, Bertrand, and Wurmser have been honored. They join the three volleyball, six men's soccer, six women's soccer team members announced in the fall, one men's basketball team member announced after the winter season, two softball players from the spring season and nine athletes from the 2023-24 school year. Prior to last season, no MCLA athlete had been honored by CSC since 2019, when softball outfielder Kaitlyn Berghela was named to the Academic All-American Division III third team.

Barney served as a captain for the Trailblazers in the program's second season. Barney led MCLA net minders with 501 saves across her 13 season starts. A 38 save showing in the Trailblazers' 7-0 win at Hilbert College on November 10^th was the fourth game in the team's five game winning streak to open the season. The game was also the second career shutout for the junior transfer from Anna Maria College. Barney recorded at least 29 saves in every game in which she played this past year, topped by a 50 save showing against Plymouth State on December 6^th, and a 52 save performance in the regular season finale against Rivier University. Barney is a two-year member of the Trailblazer Women's Hockey program and is a health sciences major.

One of several breakout players who improved during the program's second season, Wurmser played in 25 of the Trailblazers' 26 games this season and tied for fourth on the team with 10 points, scoring four goals and providing six assists. During the road trip to play two games at Hilbert College on November 9^th and 10^th, showed the sophomore notching two assists in both contests. After picking up a pair of helpers in back to back games, she also recorded goals in back to back games. The first came against Anna Maria on November 23^rd and then picked up her second goal on November 26^th at Nichols College. Wurmser is a double major in political science and English.

Bertrand is the final member of the Trailblazers to pick up an All-District recognition this year. Betrand was named to the MASCAC All-Conference first team after leading the Trailblazers in points (24), goals (16), assists (8), power play goals (6), and game winning goals (4). During the team's 7-0 win over Hilbert College on November 10^th, Bertrand recorded the first ever hat trick for the women's hockey program. In MCLA's season opening home-and-home series against New England College, Bertrand posted a pair of three point games, finishing both games with two goals and an assist. Bertrand just finished her second season with the MCLA Women's Hockey program and is majoring in health sciences.

Per the College Sports Communicators (previously known as COSIDA) website, the Academic All-American is a title reserved for college student-athletes who perform at an elite level in their chosen sport and in the classroom. The all-time list of 40,000+ Academic All-Americans includes major sports stars and some of the world's most accomplished individuals in medicine, business, science, and the arts. Established in 1952 and selected by College Sports Communicators, Academic All-America is the longest-running and premier award for athletic and academic success across championship college sports at all NCAA levels, the NAIA, two-year colleges, and Canadian institutions. Teams are announced year-round and amplified by CSC member colleges, universities, and conferences on a wide local, regional, national, and even international scope.

To be eligible for consideration, student-athletes must demonstrate the best traits of a student-athlete, both on and off the playing field. Among the requirements are:

• Outstanding student-athletes are nominated for Academic All-District® recognition by communications directors and must have a minimum 3.50 GPA and meet high athletic standards. (25,000+ nominations annually)
• A select group of student-athletes advances to the national ballot, where CSC members vote on Academic All-America teams. (approximately 2,000 selections annually)
• A Team Member of the Year is selected in each sport and division. (66 recipients)
• An overall Academic All-America of the Year is selected as the top student-athlete across all sports in each NCAA and NAIA division. (4 recipients)

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