KU announces its senior awards at annual all-sport banquet

KUTZTOWN, Pa. — Four senior student-athletes were honored at the 2009 Kutztown University All-Sports Banquet Tuesday at Keystone Field House.

Steph Denlinger (sr. Harleysville/Souderton), of the softball team, and Dave Ben (sr. Coatesville/Coatesville), of the men’s basketball team, were awarded the Female and Male Senior Athlete of the Year awards.

Kelley Healey (sr. Toms River, N.J./Toms River North), of the field hockey team, was named the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Scott Thomas (sr. Schuylkill Haven/Blue Mountain), of the men’s swimming team, was selected as the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

The awards are based on their accomplishments over a four-year career at KU.

Steph Denlinger (Female Senior Athlete of the Year):
Denlinger is the all-time NCAA Division II leader in home runs with 76 home runs.

She is a three-time first-team All-PSAC East selection, a two-time Daktronics All-Region first team member and a three-time NFCA All-Region first-team selection.

She also was named the 2007 Daktronics Regional Player of the Year and a 2007 NFCA and Daktronics All-America first team member.

During the 2007 season, she set PSAC single season records for runs, RBIs, HR, walks and slugging percentage and KU record for batting average, total bases, on-base percentage. She holds the PSAC career records for runs, RBIs, HR and walks. She also holds the KU record for total bases.

Denlinger was the KU Rookie of the Year in 2006 and Athlete of the Year in 2007.

In 2009, she’s batting .434 with 20 homers, 58 RBIs and 63 runs scored.

Dave Ben (Male Senior Athlete of the Year):
In 2008-09, Ben finished third in the PSAC in scoring with 20.5 points per game. His 675 points on the season are second-best on the single-season scoring list and give him a school record 2,017 points for his career.

He was named the PSAC East Player of the Year his senior season. During his career, he was a three-time All-PSAC East first team member and the 2005 PSAC East Rookie of the Year.

He also was named to the Daktronics All-Atlantic Region first team and Division II Bulletin 2009 All-American fourth team. He set career records for field goals and free throws made and finished fourth in career steals and fifth in career assists at KU.

Kelley Healey (Female Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year):
Healey has a cumulative GPA of 3.93, majoring in biology. She has been named a PSAC Top 10 athlete in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

In 2007, she was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America At-Large second team and All-District first team. She has been named to the dean’s list six times and she has been selected as a PSAC Scholar-Athlete three times.

Healey was named to the 2008 and 2007 All-PSAC East first team, the 2006 and 2005 All-PSAC second team. She was selected as the 2005 PSAC Rookie of the Year.

She was named to the NFHCA All-America first team twice and the All-America second team twice. She played in the NFHCA Senior All-Star game.

At KU, she set the career record with 39 assists and finished second in career points (161). She set single-season assists record (14 in 2007) and was second in career goals (61).

Scott Thomas (Male Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year):
Thomas has a 3.91 cumulative GPA as a physics major. He has made the dean’s list in each of his semesters at KU and was named a PSAC Scholar-Athlete twice.

At 2009 PSAC swimming championships, he finished sixth in 200 back, 15th in 400 IM and eight in 400 medley relay. He placed 14th in the 500 free and 11th in the 200 back at the PSAC meet in 2008.

In 2007, he placed second in 200 back at the PSAC meet. He's ranked third in 400 IM (4:17.65), fourth in the 200 back (1:56.55) and 10th in the 500 free (4:50.77) on KU all-time list.