New York, NY – Seniors Catherine Alves and Brian Scher were honored at the 23rd Annual Michael Steuerman City University of New York Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner by being named the 2009 Male & Female Senior College Scholar-Athletes of the Year.

Alves, a four-year second baseman on the softball team, has earned many honors on and off the field during her career. On the diamond, she has become a three-time conference All-Star, has won two CUNYAC Championship titles, made two NCAA Tournament appearances and this season was named the CUNYAC Player of the Year. Off the field, she has played an instrumental role in the development of the both Hunter College’s and the CUNYAC’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committees, serving as President and Vice-President on both and organizing numerous activities to help give back to the community.

Academically, Alves is an honors college student, majoring in sociology with a minor in political science and maintains a 3.755 GPA. She has also received various academic honors and is a dean’s list student.

Scher, a four-year grappler on the wrestling team, experienced a rougher road to his success on the mat, suffering many setbacks along the way including a battle with a life-threatening illness. However, he continued to show his resilience each time and would go on to have one of the most successful careers in the storied wrestling program at Hunter. He finished his career with a 67-24 record and went 20-3 during his senior year, earning an at-large bid into the NCAA Championship where he finished with a 1-2 record.

Despite the various setbacks he suffered on the mat, the honors college student never suffered any lags in the classroom, maintaining a 3.708 GPA while majoring in the Classics with a minor in Economics. For his efforts in the classroom, he has also been named a three-time National Wrestling Coaches Association Academic All-American.

In addition, two Hunter student-athletes, Shandu Foster and Carla McGregor were named honorable-mention selections. Foster, a four-year member of the men’s volleyball team, is majoring in Sociology with a minor in women’s studies and has maintained a 3.621 GPA. On the court, Foster is a two-time ECAC Champion, a CUNYAC Champion, a CUNYAC All-Star and closed out his career as the second all-time leader in the program in solo blocks and is sixth in kills and total blocks. McGregor spent the last four seasons as a member of Hunter women’s swimming & diving team where she won three CUNYAC Championships, was a two-time All-Star, holds three schools records and has won the most conference championship medals than anyone in the program’s history.

Alves and Scher become the 18th & 19th Hunter student-athlete to be named as a CUNYAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and this is the first time that both senior college recipients were form the same institution. The Scholar-Athlete award was adopted in 1987 and is named after the first-ever Commissioner of the City University of New York Athletic Conference, Michael Steuerman. Steuerman served as commissioner from 1987 to 1991, he passed he March of 2006 at the age of 68.