Howard and Behn earn scholar-athlete of the month honors

INDIANAPOLIS – Cleveland State’s Carys Behn has been named Horizon League Female Scholar-Athlete of the Month and Butler’s Matt Howard is the Male Scholar-Athlete for the month of February.

Behn, a junior from Westville, South Africa has won back-to-back scholar-athlete of the month honors. In the 2011 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championship that took place Feb. 23-26 at the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium in Cleveland, Ohio she won three individual events and broke numberous league and school records earning her Co-Swimmer of the Meet accolades.

She set league, school and pool records in all events she won except the 500 Freestyle(4:53.89). She won the 100 Free(50.23) and 200 Free (1:48.05) and was a member of the 800 Free Relay(7:27.75), 400 Free Relay(3:23.89), 200 Free Relay(1:31.63) and 200 Medley Relay(1:41.77).

A communications major, Behn holds a 3.75 Grade-Point Average. She was a member of the 2010 Horizon League Spring and Fall Academic Honor Roll and earned Cleveland State University’s Athletic Academic Award in her first two years at Cleveland State.

Howard, a senior from Connersville, Ind., has earned his second scholar-athlete of the month award this academic year. Leading the Bulldogs to the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Sweet-Sixteen, he was named to the First-Team All-Horizon League for the third-consecutive year and was chosen to the Horizon League All-Defensive team for the second time in three years. He finished the regular season as Butler’s leading scorer (16.8) and rebounder(7.9).

A finance major, Howard holds a 3.77 cumulative GPA and earned a 4.00 GPA in the fall semester. He is the 2010-11 Academic All-American of the Year and the first Bulldog in athletic history to be named Academic All-America three times. He is a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-District V. Howard received the NCAA “Elite 88” Award at the 2010 Final Four, given to the participating athlete with the highest GPA.

The Horizon League instituted the Scholar-Athlete of the Month awards as a way to recognize outstanding academic and athletic achievements. To be eligible for the honor, the student-athlete must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 or better (on a 4.00 scale), have completed at least one year at the member institution, passed 24 semester or 36 quarter hours and perform well during the month’s competition. Winners are selected by the League’s faculty athletics representatives, from nominations provided by sports information directors.