Feb. 15, 2012
EVANSTON, Ill.-- Northwestern's Adrienne Monka (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga) is one of 30 candidates for the 2012 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, which honors senior student-athletes who excel both on and off the field.
Northwestern softball has a long history of success with this award, earning top-10 finalist honors in 2007 (Garland Cooper), 2009 (Tammy Williams) and 2010 (Nicole Pauly). To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition.
In the community, Monka is extremely giving of her time and active, participating in both Northwestern-sponsored activities and seeking out her own influence with area organizations. She has served on a panel for Girls in the Game, a Chicago-area organization that promotes sports involvement for inner-city female youth. Monka has helped with the Women's Club of Evanston Fairy Tale Trail, a Halloween trick-or-treating experience for local children with disabilities. She has visited local Willard Elementary School and Baker Demonstration School to talk about being a student-athlete and help promote physical activity by playing with the school kids. She has chatted with local Girl Scout troops. Monka helped to deliver food to Family Focus through a local food drive. She also participated in a Field Day for Special Olympics.
In terms of character, Monka has served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as the softball program's representative for two years, playing planning roles in SAAC's annual Field Day for local school children and in SAAC's annual Holiday season food drive. During her collegiate career, Monka has started every single game despite suffering injuries that required multiple offseason surgeries in multiple seasons. Her toughness and leadership in the training room, sports performance facility and practice field have set the bar very high for her teammates. Her performance and prowess at the plate was so feared in 2011, Monka was walked at the second-highest rate of any Division I player in NCAA history, and she used this treatment to encourage her teammates batting behind her -- never once uttering a complaint about not being able to swing the bat herself.
In the classroom, Monka will graduate this year with a bachelor's degree in sociology from Northwestern. Monka's career goal after college is to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather and join the Federal Bureau of Investigation. To that end, she has taken legal studies courses in addition to her sociology requirements in preparation for that step. Monka's grandfather served the FBI as the Director of Evidence for Los Angeles County during his tenure in the organization, and she plans to follow that lead by continuing her softball career and coaching after graduation until she reaches the 24-year-old minimum age for applying to the Academy.
Finally, Monka has few peers in the competition arena. She is a two-time NFCA All-America first team selection who led the nation with a .707 on-base percentage last season to unofficially rank second in NCAA Division I single-season history. Her .461 batting average and .865 slugging percentage in 2011 led to respect at the rate of 1.53 walks per game, also good for first in the country and second in NCAA DI history. Monka reached base in 25 straight plate appearances from April 16 to May 4 in 2011; she was featured as a Sports Illustrated Face in the Crowd in the May 30, 2011, issue for the streak. The former Big Ten Freshman of the Year was a USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List member in 2010 and again this year, and also is a 2012 preseason ESPN.com All-America first team choice.
Monka is a career .378 batter with 44 home runs, 149 RBIs, an .816 slugging percentage and a .572 on-base percentage. Defensively, while starting every game at first base in the last three seasons, Monka did not commit an error from May 8, 2009 to Feb. 11, 2012 -- a string of 97 games and 622 chances.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, Division I head coaches and fans who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. The complete list of nominees can be found at SeniorClassAward.com.
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