Wednesday, June 07, 2006

MACON, Ga. (June 7, 2006) - ETSU's Erin Ashton (New Bern, N.C.) and Mercer's Will Emerson were named Atlantic Sun Student-Athletes of the year as voted by the league's Faculty Athletics Representatives. Emerson, a forward on Mercer's basketball team, is awarded this honor for the second consecutive year, while Ashton is the second soccer player to take the award. Voting on the annual honor is based on athletic, academic and community achievement and candidates must be juniors or seniors and have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2.

Ashton, a member of the Lady Bucs soccer team has been impressive in the classroom and on the field. The New Bern, N.C. native is a senior honors biology/pre-med major, boasting a 3.897 GPA. During her time at ETSU, Ashton has made the Dean's List four consecutive years and the National Dean's List in 2005. She holds memberships with Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Lambda Delta and Gamma Beta Phi honor societies.

During her career at ETSU, Ashton played in midfielder and forward positions, becoming ETSU's career leader in goals (35), assists (24), points (94) and shots (200), starting 67 of 68 games played. She was twice named A-Sun Player of the Week, voted to the A-Sun all-conference team and twice named to the SoCon all-conference team in 2003 and 2004.

Many of Ashton's civic contributions include spending two summers doing overseas medical mission projects with Global Outreach Ministries, participating in soccer clinics and community service events with Girls Inc., Toys for Tots, the Salvation Army and Army Angel Tree Program. She also served as a volunteer at the ETSU Child Center and was selected as a Coca-Cola Community All-American.

Both Ashton and Emerson have been awarded the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition. The one-time grants of $7,500 each are awarded for fall sports, winter sports and spring sports.

The Atlantic Sun Conference is a 12-member Division I league headquartered in Macon, Ga.  Its membership includes Belmont, Campbell, East Tennessee State, Florida Gulf Coast, Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, North Florida, USC Upstate and Stetson.