HS
Hope Shevchuk
  • Class of 2017
  • Burlington, Conn.

Hope Shevchuk of Burlington, Conn., Earns Academic All-District I Softball Accolades

2017 May 9

Hope Shevchuk was recently named to Academic All-District I Softball team.

Senior Lindsay Gurska and junior Ama Biney earned repeat nods while senior Hope Shevchuk earned her first distinction for softball as the trio was named to the Academic All-District I Softball team as voted upon by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) members from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. All three advance to the Academic All-America ballot.

It marks the fourth career All-District honor for Biney, who also has a pair of basketball accolades and second for Shevchuk, who earned at-large recognition last year for field hockey. The senior duo of Gurska and Shevchuk also had the accomplishment of being the only two 4.0 student-athletes on the list, which features seven NEWMAC student-athletes.

Biney, a two-time women's basketball selection and now a repeat softball pick, is a management operations major and a three-time WPI Athletics department award winner. Her IQP involved developing a phone application that allows students to access content from their courses to study, learn, and challenge others. Biney batted .370 with 47 hits, including 17 for extra bases, 35 RBI, 50 runs scored, 25 stolen bases and 23 walks. Among her NEWMAC peers, Biney is first in runs, triples (5), walks, stolen bases and in the top five in eight other categories. She was also flawless in the field in 50 overall chances and 24 attempts in conference games.

Shevchuk, an at-large Academic All-America a year ago for field hockey, is a six-time NEWMAC All-Academic honoree. The chemical engineering major helped develop an autism diagnostic app at the New Zealand project center for her IQP. She is also a peer tutor, Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society president and a member of Active Minds and Phi Sigma Sigma sorority. On the field, Shevchuk is batting .337 with five doubles. 23 singles, 14 RBI, 21 runs scored in 38 games played. Defensively, she was .951 in 123 chances and was a part of five double plays.

Gurska, a biology major and 2016 Academic All-America first teamer, batted .319 with 36 hits (10 for extra bases), 11 walks, 22 RBI, 17 runs scored and five stolen bases in 41 games. Behind the plate, she was successful on 213 of 214 total chances, including nine runners caught stealing, for a .995 fielding percentage. Last season, Gurska was named NEWMAC Player of the Year, an All-NEW England catcher and the Bonnie-Blanche Schoonover Award, which is given to one or more outstanding junior women students preparing for a career in engineering and science who have played a significant role at WPI.

To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution, must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games at the position listed on the nomination form (where applicable) and he/she has completed one full calendar year at his/her current institution and has reached sophomore athletic eligibility.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI is one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. Its 14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. WPI's talented faculty work with students on interdisciplinary research that seeks solutions to important and socially relevant problems in fields as diverse as the life sciences and bioengineering, energy, information security, materials processing, and robotics. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Projects Program. There are more than 40 WPI project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.