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Catcher Cumming, Nicole Watt Named 2018-19 Scholar-Athletes of the Year

Cumming and Watt pictured with Faculty Athletic Representative Victor Brunsden.

Penn State Altoona Athletics announced the 2018-19 Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year at its annual Intercollegiate Athletics Honors Banquet last April.

Baseball player Catcher Cumming took the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor, while bowler Nicole Watt was named the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The Scholar-Athlete awards are the highest individual recognitions given at Penn State Altoona’s annual athletics honors ceremony, presented to one male and one female student-athlete who demonstrate excellence both in their respective sports and in the classroom.

Catcher Cumming

Senior, baseball
2018-19 Penn State Altoona Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Penn State Altoona’s Catcher Cumming, a senior first baseman on the baseball team, was chosen as the department’s 2018-19 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Cumming had an exceptional spring for the Lions baseball team, helping his squad to a 28-17 overall record that included a 12-6 mark in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC). The team earned third place in the conference’s regular season standings before reaching the AMCC Championship game to eventually finish as the conference runners-up.

In the AMCC last season, Cumming ranked fifth in runs batted in (40), sixth in home runs (6), 10th in slugging percentage (.547), 13th in runs scored (35), total bases (76), and walks (22), 14th in doubles (10), 20th in hits (44), 28th in batting average (.317), and 33rd in on-base percentage (.415).

During the season, Cumming was named the AMCC Player of the Week, while also taking national honors with an appearance on D3baseball.com’s Team of the Week. Among Cumming’s highlights from the spring was setting a team record for the most RBI in a doubleheader (12) during a pair of wins against Hilbert College on April 7.

In the classroom, Cumming has excelled since transferring to Penn State Altoona in 2017 after one year at Division II Pitt-Johnstown. Through his junior year, he held a 3.82 GPA. He is a Business major, with a concentration in Marketing and Management. Cumming has also played on the campus’ men’s club ice hockey team.

“Catcher isn’t the most outspoken, but he leads by example and never takes a pitch off,” says Penn State Altoona baseball head coach RJ Barnard. “He gives 110 percent day in and day out, and he plays the game the way it is meant to be played. He is an exceptional example of a student-athlete at Penn State Altoona.”

Cumming is a native of Altoona and is a graduate of Altoona Area High School.

Nicole Watt

2018 alumni, women’s bowling
2018-19 Penn State Altoona Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Penn State Altoona alumni women’s bowler Nicole Watt was selected as the department’s 2018-19 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Watt capped her four-year career with the Lady Lions bowling program by putting together a strong senior campaign on the lanes. She was voted to the second team of the AMCC’s All-Conference team at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season, during which she averaged a team-high 154.2
per game in traditional team format matches, as well as a team-best 16.13 baker average in baker matches.

Watt recorded Penn State Altoona’s highest score of the season on Jan. 26, when she dropped 214 pins in a match during the Saint Francis University Red Flash Invitational. Her score of 214 that day ranked as the fourth-best score in a traditional game in program history.

Watt’s best baker average of the 2018-19 season came during the AMCC Round Robin #1 weekend Feb. 2-3, when she compiled a two-day baker average of 17.18. That mark is tied for the eighth-best baker average in an event in team history.

Watt posted a 3.75 GPA as an Accounting/Business major. She served her fellow student-athletes, as well as the Altoona community, by being an active participant on Penn State Altoona’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

“Nikki was the heart and soul of the women’s bowling program, standing by during the ups and downs while sporting a smile on her face,” says Penn State Altoona head women’s bowling coach John Carey. “Her accomplishments, both on the bowling lanes and off, made her the ideal recipient of the Female Scholar-Athlete award.”

Watt is a native of Altoona and graduated from Bishop Guilfoyle High School.

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