MAY 13, 2004
BOB ZIADIEKING'S ZANGARDI RECEIVES TWO TOP ACADEMIC-ATHLETIC HONORS
(Named MAC Spring Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, CoSIDA District 2 All-Academic)
WILKES-BARRE -- King's College senior Maria Zangardi, a Seton Catholic product, has received two major academic-athletics awards as a member of the Lady Monarch softball team.
Zangardi has been named the Middle Atlantic Corporation Spring Sports Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while also being to the College Sports Information Directors of American District 2 Academic All-American Softball Team. Both awards factor in success in academics and athletics, as well as community service and extracurricular activities.
The Pittston Township resident recently concluded a brilliant career at King's in both academics and athletics and will graduate from King's on Sunday. A double major in Mass Communications/Media Technologies and Spanish, Zangardi will graduate with an overall 3.98 grade-point average and was named to King's Dean's List all eight semesters.
Zangardi has earned numerous academic awards at King's and has been named to the Alpha Mu Gamma National Foreign Language, King’s Aquinas, Phi Sigma Tau Philosophy, and Delta Epsilon Sigma honor societies. Additionally, she was recently named the co-winner of the 2004 Murgas Award, the highest honor presented within the Mass Communications/Media Technologies Department at King's.
Her community service activities include working as a volunteer with the Red Cross and at the Junior Achievement Bowl-A-Thon, while serving as a King’s College Admissions Tour Guide and Open House volunteer. Zangardi has also worked part-time as a sports correspondent for the Citizen’s Voice Newspaper and completed an internship with WNEP-TV 16.
Zangardi was named to the CoSIDA District 2 Academic All-American team for the second time in her career. As a first-team selection, she was one of just 12 student-athletes chosen from District 2, which includes all NCAA Division II and III, as well as NAIA colleges, in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, West Virginia, Delaware, and Washington D.C.
On the field, she led King's softball team to a school-record 39-10 mark as well as a fourth straight MAC Freedom Conference championship along with four NCAA national Tournament berths.
Zangardi ranked in the top-five of the Freedom Conference in virtually every offensive category. She stands first in base hits (71) and doubles (18); ranks second in batting average (.403), home runs (8), triples (6), RBI (43), total bases (125), and slugging percentage (.710). She is also fourth in runs scored (41) and fifth in on-base average (.429).
Zangardi was a two-time Freedom Conference "player of the week" in 2004 and was named a first-team all-conference selection for the third time in her career. She was also named to the 2004 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships All-Tournament Team and was selected as an NFCA East Regional All-American for the third time in her career.
"Maria Zangardi is as fine a student-athlete as I have ever come in contact with and she is so deserving of the many academic and athletic honors she receives," said King's sports information director Bob Ziadie, who nominated Zangardi for both awards. "She is a very special person who gives 100-percent in everything she does and that is reflected in the type of success she has enjoyed in every challenge she has undertaken. Maria is the best teammate anyone could ever have and she has a genuine love for her teammates and coaches alike at King's. She is truly a one-of-a-kind person who will greatly be missed by the King's Community."
She is the daughter of Al and Barbara Zangardi, Pittston Township.
King's College
133 North River Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711
1 (888) KINGS PA
Questions or comments to: Bob Ziadie, King's College Sports Information Director
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