Women's soccer team nominated • 14 individual athletes nominated

Dakota County Technical College has submitted nominations for 2020–2021 NJCAA All-Academic Awards for teams and individual players. The DCTC Blue Knights women's soccer team (average GPA: 3.11) has been nominated for the NJCAA Academic Team of the Year Award.

Fourteen Blue Knights softball, men's soccer, women's soccer, baseball and basketball players have been nominated for NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete Awards.

Marki Struensee serves as the college's athletic coordinator. Marki oversaw the nomination process for all six NJCAA teams at DCTC.

"I am proud of each and every Blue Knight athlete," she said. "In the past year, COVID has forced us to make some big changes to athletics as well as academics. These student-athletes worked hard to balance it all—at times with things changing daily. Congrats to the individual and team nominations, as well as those who didn't make the nomination criteria. Thank you for all of your hard work!"

DCTC Team Nominated

Blue Knights Women's Soccer

Average GPA: 3.11

Bella Ciccarelli (4) • 3.81 GPA • Team and Student-Athlete [team photo unavailable]

DCTC Individual Players Nominated

Ben Goelz
Baseball
Freshman
GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team

Zach Gunderson
Baseball
Freshman
GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team

Ariyontai Hatcher
Basketball
Freshman
GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team

Jordi Herrera
Men's Soccer
Sophomore
GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team

Alissa Merrick
Women's Soccer
Freshman
GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team

Caitlin Springer
Women's Soccer
Freshman
GPA: 4.00 • NJCAA All-Academic First Team

Kirby Pieri
Baseball
Freshman
GPA: 3.97 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team

Riley Pederson
Baseball
Freshman
GPA: 3.95 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team

Maria Gutzmann
Softball
Freshman
GPA: 3.94 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team

Benjamin Simonsen
Baseball
Freshman
GPA: 3.91 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team

Lilly Hernandez
Women's Soccer
Sophomore
GPA: 3.88 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team

Elizabeth Lehrer
Softball
Freshman
GPA: 3.82 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team

Isabella Ciccarelli
Softball, Women's Soccer
Freshman
GPA: 3.81 • NJCAA All-Academic Second Team

Dalton Burns
Baseball
Freshman
GPA: 3.75 • NJCAA All-Academic Third Team