YORK, Pa. – Frostburg State senior Spenser Love (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill), Salisbury senior Breck Sullivan (Salisbury, Md./Parkside), and York sophomore Beth Wiseley (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) were selected by the conference senior woman administrators and athletic directors as recipients of the CAC Medal of Inspiration for the 2015-16 academic year.

The Capital Athletic Conference Medal of Inspiration is awarded to person(s) from the CAC who have persevered through extraordinary circumstances and whose determination, devotion, and passion are exemplary, revered among their peers, and worthy of special recognition.

Love, the first Frostburg State student-athlete to win the CAC Medal of Inspiration, is a senior men’s lacrosse attacker who led the Bobcats in points, goals, and assists in 2016 and finished his career as the program’s all-time goal-scoring leader with 131 goals, while also ranking second in points with 192. A team captain, Love was an All-CAC second team selection in 2016 and the CAC Rookie of the Year in 2013.

In June of 2015, Love was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Within a week of the diagnosis he had surgery, followed by multiple follow-up procedures. Six weeks of chemotherapy treatment ensued, but Love rebounded quickly and was playing high-level college lacrosse within three months of the surgery. Love and his father created a foundation called Love Strong 51 to raise awareness for testicular cancer. The goal of the foundation is to raise money for research and encourage men to get tested. TC is the fastest growing cancer and is the most common form of cancer in men ages 15-35. Every year, 8,500 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer and 350 die from the disease. If caught at an early stage, the survival rate in almost 100%.

Love was selected as Frostburg State’s Comeback Athlete of the Year in 2015-16. In addition to his success on the lacrosse field, he was also a seven-time Dean’s List member and three-time CAC All-Academic team honoree.

Sullivan, a key defender on the Sea Gulls’ 2015 CAC Championship field hockey team, is the second Salisbury student-athlete to win the CAC Medal of Inspiration, joining former men’s lacrosse player Alex Nieves, who earned the honor in 2013. Sullivan was the anchor of the SU defense which ranked ninth in Division III in 2015 with a 0.89 goals-against average. Throughout her four-year career, Sullivan helped Salisbury to a 65-13 record, three CAC titles, four NCAA tournament appearances, the national semifinals in 2014, and the national championship game in 2013.

Sullivan accumulated numerous accolades during her career. She is currently one of three finalists across all three NCAA divisions for the prestigious Honda Inspiration Award, and was two-time first-team All-CAC selection (2014, 2015). She also claimed all-region second team honors from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) in 2015, earned first team ECAC Mid-Atlantic Region in 2014, was named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team in 2014, and won the NCAA Elite 89 award in 2014.

A top recruit four years ago, Sullivan sprained her ankle on the first lap of her first preseason run. It was the first of numerous injuries to plague her throughout her four-year career. By midseason of her freshman campaign she was getting regular playing time until a right hamstring strain sidelined her for the remainder of the season. As a sophomore, injuries kept her out of the entire season until the semifinal round of the NCAA tournament. Even knowing there was a possibility she could make the injury worse, she played, and saw her worst nightmare come true, tearing the hamstring in the first half. But she didn’t come out of the game, playing through the pain of the torn hamstring during the second half of the contest, helping her team to the win and a trip to the national championship game.

Working through the off-season again, she attempted to heal and strengthen her hamstrings in order to participate during her junior year. She was able to start every game that year, but spent almost all of her down time in the athletic training clinic, going in for treatments early in the morning, and both before and after practice. She used trigger point therapy, where needles are placed in the skin to release the knots. She trained and played through the pain and helped the team to the NCAA Final Four. She was named a captain during her senior season and yet again battled through a strained hamstring throughout the year. However, she played in all but one game her senior year and showed why she is one of the toughest players in program history.

Wiseley, a basketball guard/forward for York, played in 17 games with 13 starts for the Spartans in 2015-16 with averages of 5.5 points and 2.7 rebounds per game while shooting 39.3% from the field and 35.4% from three-point range. She holds a 3.65 grade point average as a nursing major and has made the Dean’s List three out of four semesters at YCP. Wiseley just completed her sophomore year in academic standing but has three years of eligibility remaining for the Spartans. 

During her first season at York, Wiseley was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Thymoma. A large tumor in her chest was discovered after she had two fainting episodes while home during semester break. She immediately had surgery to remove the tumor. Once receiving clearance from her doctors and after developing enough strength to carry her own backpack to class that spring, she began the slow and arduous process of physical therapy. In the summer, she was able to train harder and harder each day and came back to campus hoping to pick up where she had left off.

Unfortunately, after just one month of official practice in her sophomore year, Wiseley began having foot pain, which soon was diagnosed as a stress fracture. Once again, she was forced to sit on the sidelines. Even though this was not a life-threatening injury, it was emotionally devastating to a young woman who had worked so hard to return to the court. For the next six weeks, she attended practice, rode the stationary bike, worked on ball-handling drills, hit the weight room, and did everything she could to be ready when she was released by the doctor and trainer. After her release, she quickly worked her way back into the starting line-up. She became one of the top three-point shooters and defenders on the team and helped the Spartans finish with a 20-7 record.