BEL AIR, Md. - Ten Harford Community College student-athletes earned academic praise recently, as announced by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference (MD JUCO). The Fighting Owls collected 16 total academic awards for the 2009-10 season.

"As happy as I have been with all of the improvement on the field and court by teams over the last few years, the marked improvement in the classroom justifies all of the hard work and commitment of many different people at the college," Harford Director of Athletics Ken Krsolovic said.

Ten Fighting Owls, including six returning student-athletes, earned recognition by the conference and the NJCAA. Paul Labe III (baseball) and Denise Hidan (women's lacrosse) were honored by the NJCAA Distinguished Academic All-American Team by achieving a grade-point average above 3.80 on a 4.0 scale. Both players also landed on the MD JUCO Academic list.

Courtney Brewer (women's tennis), Chris Pappas (men's basketball), Lyndsie Ludwig (women's soccer/women's lacrosse) and Megan Heagy (women's tennis) each were recognized by the NJCAA on the Academic All-American Team while also collecting MD JUCO honors.

Mariah Ripken (softball), Shana Hall (women's lacrosse), Marc Donars (men's tennis) and Da Eun Lee (women's tennis) were all first-time honorees on the MD JUCO list. Ripken was one of six MD JUCO student-athletes with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.

All members of the MD JUCO All-Academic Team have participated in at least one sport for one season and achieved a 3.60 GPA on a 4.0 grade scale. Members of the NJCAA Distinguished Academic All-American Team earned at least a 3.80 GPA. Members of the NJCAA Academic All-American list earned between a 3.60 and a 3.79 GPA. First-year student-athletes must have earned at least 18 credits, while second-year student-athletes must have earned at least 42 credits.