Regis Student-Athletes Recognized on GNAC All-Sportsmanship Teams

WINTHROP, Mass. – This week, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) announced the postseason awards for men's volleyball as well as men's and women's indoor track and field, and three Regis College student-athletes were selected to represent their squads on the respective GNAC All-Sportsmanship teams.

Sophomore sprinter/jumper Emily Fagundo (Dover, N.H.) is the All-Sportsmanship representative from the women's indoor track and field team, senior distance runner JJ Pedersen (Milford, Conn.) is part of the All-Sportsmanship Team for men's indoor track and field, and freshman outside hitter/right side hitter Donovan Ross (Southbridge, Mass.) was selected to represent the Pride men's volleyball program.

Fagundo competed in eight meets during the 2019-20 indoor season, culminating in two top-four performances at the 2020 GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships. She finished second in the long jump with a personal-best mark of 4.92 meters (16' 1.75"). In the 60 meter dash, she established another personal best at 8.37 seconds in the preliminaries before finishing fourth in the finals with a time of 8.43 seconds.

"Emily is an excellent example of good sportsmanship and is a great leader on our team. She is supportive of her competitors and is a great model of sportsmanship for her fellow teammates," head track and field coach Kourtney Bonsey said. 

Pedersen emerged as one of the team's top performers, setting new school records in four individual events: the 1,000 meter run (2:41.81), one mile run (4:37.90), 3,000 meter run (9:14.74), and 5,000 meter run (15:24.81). At the 2020 GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, he finished third in the one mile run with his school-record time, plus he anchored the distance medley relay squad to a fifth place finish.

"JJ exemplifies sportsmanship, and I couldn't be more proud of how he handles himself in the track and field environment," said Bonsey. "He is a supportive and gracious competitor and an excellent leader for our program."

Ross appeared in six sets within four matches during the truncated 2020 men's volleyball season, collecting a total of nine kills on 24 attack attempts with just four errors for a .208 hitting percentage. In his first career match Feb. 6 against Dean, he played the third set and finished with four kills on five attempts for a hitting percentage of .800. He also earned four kills along with two digs against Baruch Feb. 9.

"Donovan proved himself to be one of our most focused workers on a daily basis and is a player who showed consistent improvement over the course of our season. Even though this was his first year with the team, he emerged as a vocal leader and always put the team's success above everything else," head men's volleyball coach Marc Turiano said.

Regis College is one of 13 core members of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference for the 2019-20 academic year, competing within the league in 20 NCAA Division III championship sports.