Natalie Wellman (Fairhaven, Mich. /Anchor Bay HS) was the only Lady Cardinal to appear in and start in all 60 games of the 2011 season, posting a .346 batting average.  She was good for third on the team with 65 hits and 188 at-bats.  She also led the team with 12 doubles and tied for fourth with four homeruns on the season.  On March 20, 2011 in a game against Detroit Mercy she went 3-for-4 from the plate with three RBIs and scoring 2 runs.  She was named second team all-GLIAC as an outfielder.  She is currently working on her degree in the Occupational Therapy program and maintains a cumulative 3.89 GPA. 

“When you represent a school academically and athletically,” says Wellman, “you take pride in yourself as a student-athlete.” She also credits her coaches for stressing the importance of academics and being on a team – because with a team she always had somebody to study with or talk to about school.

Frank Toarmina (Westland, Mich. /John Glenn HS) stayed organized to be a successful student-athlete.  He also credits long bus rides to giving him time to do his reading and studying, as well as writing stories.  His teammates loved reading his work.  Also, he knew that he had to be successful academically because his teammates were counting on him to be on the field to play in the games.  “I don’t think being a good student is that hard,” says Toarmina.  “Go to class, do your homework and be prepared.” 

He didn’t have any trouble with athletics either.  During the 2011 season he started in every game for SVSU as an offensive lineman and was selected first team all-GLIAC as the Cardinal offense racked up the third most passing yards in school history.  In 2010 he was named to the CoSida/ESPN All-Academic Team for the Midwest District. All this while achieving a 3.87 GPA overall.  He graduated in Winter 2011 with a degree in Communication while finishing with an overall GPA of 3.87.

Both students have similar advice to future student-athletes, work hard in school, but take some time to have fun too – Life is Short.  Wellman plans to attend graduate school at SVSU in the OT program, with the dream of opening her own OT practice.  After that, she will see where life takes her. 

Currently, Toarmina is playing football in Green Bay, Wisc. for the Blizzard of the Indoor Football League.  He plans to play as long as his body will let him.  He says that he is happy where he is at, but will soon try to break into the broadcasting field hopefully working for ESPN and getting paid to talk about sports for hours.

The George Eastland GPA Award, named in honor of SVSU’s George Eastland, is presently in its second year. He has served as the faculty athletics representative since 1973, playing an important role in the growth of the athletics program at SVSU and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  He also served as the school's interim athletic director during the 2006-07 academic year. Eastland has also been a chemistry professor at SVSU for over 30 years. 

The Athletic Banquet took place on Sunday, Feb. 26 and honored 164 student-athletes earning a 3.4 GPA or higher for the 2011 Winter and Fall semesters.