St. Mary's seniors Melissa Barall and Benjamin Ertman and Frostburg State junior Maddie Weinberger have been named to the 2017-18 Google Cloud Academic All-America A-Large Teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Barall was a first team selection, Ertman landed on the second team, and Weinberger collected third team honors. 

Barall, Ertman and Weinberger becomes the 105th, 106th and 107th CAC student-athletes to collect Academic All-America honors. Barall and Ertman are the 10th and 11th St. Mary's student-athletes to receive the distinction, while Weinberger's award is the 14th for Frostburg State throughout the Bobcats' time in the CAC. All three are the first student-athletes in their sports at their respective institutions to receive the accolade. 

CoSIDA began the Academic All-America program in 1952, and since then, has honored thousands of deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America scholar-athlete honors. To be eligible for the COSIDA Academic All-America and All-District programs, a student-athlete must be a starter or significant reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average.

A two-year team captain on the women's tennis team, St. Mary's Barall collected first-team Academic All-American honors. She graduated this spring as the co-valedictorian after finishing with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average as a triple major in economics, political science, and public policy studies. She made the Dean's List every semester, which awards those students who earn a minimum semester grade-point average of 3.50 or better on all courses attempted with at least 12 credit hours taken for a letter grade. Barall was named a St. Mary's Scholar for 2016 and 2017; an honor bestowed upon juniors and seniors who have earned at least 32 credit-hours and whose cumulative GPA is 3.50 or better.

She served as the Vice President for Outreach on this year's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Executive Board as well as the president of the St. Mary's Votes Club during election season. In addition, Barall was the treasurer and vice president of the Economics Club. She will be a four-time member of the CAC All-Academic Team and two-time ITA Division III Scholar-Athlete.

On the court, Barall finished with a program second-best .712 (47-19) career win percentage as well as ranking third all-time with 47 career singles wins.  She owns the program's best single-season win percentage at .850 after going 17-3 as a first-year in 2015. In doubles action, Barall ranks fifth all-time with 33 doubles victories. She was selected as the 2015 CAC Rookie of the Year and has notched second team All-CAC honors twice (2015 and 2018). Barall finished her sophomore year ranked 24th in the Atlantic South region by the ITA.

A team captain in 2017-18 for the men's swimming team, St. Mary's Ertman graduated summa cum laude this spring after finishing his academic career with a 3.952 cumulative grade point average as a double major in Chinese and psychology. He made the Dean's List every semester and was also named a St. Mary's Scholar for 2016 and 2017. 

The 2017-18 St. Mary's Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Ertman is also a member of three national honor societies – Chi Alpha Sigma, the national collegiate student-athlete honor society for juniors and seniors; Phi Beta Kappa, the honor society in the liberal arts and sciences; and Psi Chi, the national honor society in psychology, serving as its vice president in 2016-17.

He was awarded the Foreign Language Book Prize in Chinese as well as the Psychology Major Award at the 2018 Awards Convocation. The Psychology Major Award was established in 1993 and recognizes a psychology, human development or human studies major who demonstrated a superior understanding of the themes and methods of that discipline.

Ertman is also a four-time member of the CAC All-Academic Team. He will be heading to China to teach English for a year before pursuing his PhD in psychology.

In the pool, Ertman was a consistent contributor for the Seahawks despite having cerebral palsy. He competed in the freestyle and backstroke events, breaking the 20-minute mark in the 1,650 freestyle for the first time in his career at the 2018 CAC Championships. He medaled twice at the 2017 Intercollegiate Para Swimming Championships, picking up silver in the 100 backstroke and bronze in the 100 freestyle.

Frostburg State's Weinberger was named to the Women's At-Large Third Team. Entering her senior year, she carries a perfect 4.00 GPA and majors in athletic training. She is one of 16 Academic All-Americans with a perfect 4.00 GPA.

A three-time CAC All-Academic honoree, Weinberger has been named to the Dean's List every semester at Frostburg and was voted as FSU's Female Scholar Athlete of the Year at the annual athletic banquet in mid-May. She was also recently named to the President's Honor Roll of the Eastern College Athletic Conference.
 
Weinberger capped her junior season in the pool by capturing a pair of CAC Titles and earning a pair of First Team All-CAC honors in the process after winning both the 100 and 200-yard breaststrokes. Her 1:04.98 in the 100 at the league championships is the second-fastest time in the event in CAC history. Weinberger also established 11 team records this past season, collected 26 individual wins and helped her teammates to six relay victories.