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Gronningsater Earns NCAA Today's Top 10 Award
1/6/2021 2:00:00 PM | Fencing
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Duke University 2020 graduate Eoin Gronningsater was named one of 10 student-athletes recognized as the 2021 Today's Top 10 Award winners, the NCAA announced Wednesday.
The award recognizes former student-athletes for their successes in their sport, in the classroom and in the community. Recipients will be recognized during a virtual Honors Celebration awards show on Wednesday, Jan. 13. The show will be streamed at 7 p.m. Eastern time on the NCAA Twitter account and on the ESPN app.
The honorees are selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, composed of representatives of NCAA member schools, conferences and distinguished citizens, including past awardees.
Gronningsater left his mark on the Duke history books as one of the most successful fencers in program history.
A two-time captain and three-time All-American in foil, Gronningsater has seen both athletic and academic success throughout his four years as a Blue Devil. He was honored with an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, named the 2020 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for fencing, Duke Male Student-Athlete of the Year as well as the 2020 Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship Award recipient from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In 2019, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native became the first Blue Devil male foilist to capture back-to-back All-America accolades since Dorian Cohen (2010-11) and was tabbed to the CoSIDA Academic All-District III Men's At-Large Team.
With an impressive 182-38 (.827) career record, Gronningsater qualified for the NCAA Championships in each of his four years. The NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional qualifier was named ACC Fencer of the Year in 2018 and the ACC Most Valuable Player for helping lead the Blue Devil men to their first ACC team title.
In his first year with the program, Gronningsater captured a bronze medal at the 2017 ACC Fencing Championships before his silver-medal performance in 2018.
Gronningsater co-founded Fence 4 the Fight and facilitated the partnership between Duke fencing and the Duke Cancer Institute to raise $32,000 for breast cancer research in 2020. He traveled to Vietnam in 2018 through the Rubenstein-Bing Student-Athlete Civic Engagement Program, volunteering at a youth summer camp, and he volunteered weekly with Families Moving Forward-Durham, tutoring children at a local shelter.
He is currently serving with Teach for America, teaching sixth grade math and English language arts special education at the Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy II while attending the Relay Graduate School of Education.
Other top 10 award selections include – Nia Akins (University of Pennsylvania), Bernardo Amaral Neves (Washington University in St. Louis), Brittny Ellis (University of Miami), Alison Gibson (University of Texas at Austin), Deshawn Jones (Missouri University of Science and Technology), Lily Justine (University of California, Los Angeles), Kayla Leland (Whitworth University), Asia Seidt (University of Kentucky) and Juah Toe (West Chester University of Pennsylvania).
#GoDuke
The award recognizes former student-athletes for their successes in their sport, in the classroom and in the community. Recipients will be recognized during a virtual Honors Celebration awards show on Wednesday, Jan. 13. The show will be streamed at 7 p.m. Eastern time on the NCAA Twitter account and on the ESPN app.
The honorees are selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, composed of representatives of NCAA member schools, conferences and distinguished citizens, including past awardees.
Gronningsater left his mark on the Duke history books as one of the most successful fencers in program history.
A two-time captain and three-time All-American in foil, Gronningsater has seen both athletic and academic success throughout his four years as a Blue Devil. He was honored with an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, named the 2020 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for fencing, Duke Male Student-Athlete of the Year as well as the 2020 Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship Award recipient from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In 2019, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native became the first Blue Devil male foilist to capture back-to-back All-America accolades since Dorian Cohen (2010-11) and was tabbed to the CoSIDA Academic All-District III Men's At-Large Team.
With an impressive 182-38 (.827) career record, Gronningsater qualified for the NCAA Championships in each of his four years. The NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional qualifier was named ACC Fencer of the Year in 2018 and the ACC Most Valuable Player for helping lead the Blue Devil men to their first ACC team title.
In his first year with the program, Gronningsater captured a bronze medal at the 2017 ACC Fencing Championships before his silver-medal performance in 2018.
Gronningsater co-founded Fence 4 the Fight and facilitated the partnership between Duke fencing and the Duke Cancer Institute to raise $32,000 for breast cancer research in 2020. He traveled to Vietnam in 2018 through the Rubenstein-Bing Student-Athlete Civic Engagement Program, volunteering at a youth summer camp, and he volunteered weekly with Families Moving Forward-Durham, tutoring children at a local shelter.
He is currently serving with Teach for America, teaching sixth grade math and English language arts special education at the Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy II while attending the Relay Graduate School of Education.
Other top 10 award selections include – Nia Akins (University of Pennsylvania), Bernardo Amaral Neves (Washington University in St. Louis), Brittny Ellis (University of Miami), Alison Gibson (University of Texas at Austin), Deshawn Jones (Missouri University of Science and Technology), Lily Justine (University of California, Los Angeles), Kayla Leland (Whitworth University), Asia Seidt (University of Kentucky) and Juah Toe (West Chester University of Pennsylvania).
#GoDuke
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