Holliday, Schmelzer Named NCAC Scholar-Athlete Winners

OHIO WESLEYAN seniors Kyle Holliday (Van Wert) and Leah Schmelzer (Marion/Pleasant) were named NCAC Scholar-Athletes by the North Coast Athletic Conference.

Holliday, a wing for the Battling Bishop men's basketball team, was a second-team selection on the 2009 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® College Division Men's Basketball teams. He ranked sixth in the North Coast Athletic Conference in both scoring and rebounding with respective averages of 15.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He tied for fourth in the conference in 3-point field goals (2.36/game), and ranked sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (.434) and 15th in assists (2.28/game). During the 2008-09 season, Holliday became the 25th Ohio Wesleyan men's basketball player to surpass the 1000-point mark during his career. Holliday is an accounting major with a cumulative grade point average of 3.87.

Schmelzer, a member of the Bishop women's track & field and cross country teams, placed in the 10,000-meter run to help Ohio Wesleyan win the 2009 NCAC outdoor track & field championship. She won second-team all-conference honors in cross country last fall, helping the Bishops finish second in the conference standings, Ohio Wesleyan's best finish since 1988. She also won All-NCAC honors in the indoor 5000-meter run. Schmelzer majors in zoology.

The NCAC Scholar-Athlete Award is given annually to one man and one woman from each North Coast member institution. Instituted in the 1990-91 season, the award honors outstanding academic and athletic achievement.