Bucknell University Athletics
Photo by: Marc Hagemeier
Meerscheidt Named Patriot League Rowing Scholar-Athlete of the Year; Brandt, Gaggini Join Her on Academic All-Patriot League Team
5/23/2022 10:30:00 AM | Women's Rowing
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell senior Kate Meerscheidt was voted Patriot League Rowing Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Monday, and she was joined on the 11-woman Academic All-Patriot League Team by teammates Caroline Brandt and Juliette Gaggini.
All three Bison earned All-Patriot League citations last week after helping the Varsity Eight to a dominant victory and Patriot League Boat of the Year honors at the league championships. Coming into the Grand Final as the No. 5 seed, Bucknell rowed to a near-seven-second victory over runner-up Boston University and a nine-second margin over third-place Navy, which was the six-time defending champion. It was the largest margin of victory in a V8 final since 2008 and the third-largest in league history.
The victory earned the Bison the Patriot League Boat of the Year honor for the first time in 10 years. Bucknell last won the Varsity Eight title in 2012, and the team's last gold medal came when the Second Varsity Eight won in 2016.
Meerscheidt is the second Bucknell rower to earn Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors since the Patriot League began sponsoring the sport in 2005. Elizabeth Regan claimed the award in 2010.
This is the second year in a row and fourth time overall that Bucknell has had three members of the Academic All-Patriot League Team. Brandt and Meerscheidt are both repeat selections, and they join Jillian O'Mara (2011-12) and Margo Boyd (2014-15) as Bucknell's only two-time recipients.
Meerscheidt claimed the league's top scholar-athlete honor after earning First Team All-Patriot League honors this spring while maintaining a 3.92 cumulative grade-point average as a double major in anthropology and English/literary studies. Meerscheidt is a Phi Beta Kappa inductee who completed an honors theses entitled, "The Fifth Vital Sign: An Anthropological Analysis of Productive and Unproductive Pain". She served as a teaching assistant in the anthropology department and received the Meerwarth Prize for Anthropology in Action, awarded to the senior demonstrating the most outstanding performance in anthropology.
Meerscheidt presented original research at the 2019 and 2022 Center for Social Science Research Posters Plus Research Symposiums. A two-time CRCA Scholar-Athlete, she worked last summer with the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty.
On the water, Meerscheidt medaled at the Patriot League Championships in all three of her appearances (the 2020 event was canceled due to COVID-19). She earned silver medals with the Varsity Four as a freshman and with the Second Varsity Eight as a junior before winning gold with the Varsity Eight this spring.
Brandt is a junior biomedical engineering major with a 3.84 cumulative GPA. Brandt was the recipient of the Charles F. White Memorial Prize for Scholar-Athletes last fall, coming off a summer in which she worked in the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. She was part of a project team with a sponsor and partner company to develop a "smart" operating room through the integration of computing devices, processing boards, and environmental sensors to aid in assessing safety and efficiency within the operating room. Brandt worked on a project team at Bucknell this academic year that worked on the ideal design for hearing aids, and another that introduced biomaterials to mimic the function of a tendon, to be used in ACL and other reconstructive surgeries.
Brandt has served as a study group leader in the Bucknell Teaching & Learning Center and as a physics lab teaching assistant. She is a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society and has been active with the e-NABLE Club, which uses 3D printers to make prosthetic devices for those in need.
Brandt has earned All-Patriot League honors in each of the last two seasons. She was a First Team honoree in 2021 and a Second Team honoree in 2022.
Gaggini is a sophomore coxswain with a 3.94 GPA in English/literary studies and environmental studies. She received the President's Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement and served as co-editor of the satire section of The Bucknellian student newspaper.
Gaggini has served as the coxswain of the Varsity Eight in both of her seasons in Orange and Blue. She is already a two-time All-Patriot League honoree after claiming First Team honors this spring, and she has guided the Bison to silver and gold medals in her two league championship appearances.
Bucknell's trio was joined on the Academic All-Patriot League Team by Boston University's Josephine Olson and Lexi Wright, Holy Cross' Josie Ascione, Lehigh's Bella Popov, MIT's Allison King, and Navy's Millie Oldham, Hanna Prince, and Sky Schork.
All three Bison earned All-Patriot League citations last week after helping the Varsity Eight to a dominant victory and Patriot League Boat of the Year honors at the league championships. Coming into the Grand Final as the No. 5 seed, Bucknell rowed to a near-seven-second victory over runner-up Boston University and a nine-second margin over third-place Navy, which was the six-time defending champion. It was the largest margin of victory in a V8 final since 2008 and the third-largest in league history.
The victory earned the Bison the Patriot League Boat of the Year honor for the first time in 10 years. Bucknell last won the Varsity Eight title in 2012, and the team's last gold medal came when the Second Varsity Eight won in 2016.
Meerscheidt is the second Bucknell rower to earn Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors since the Patriot League began sponsoring the sport in 2005. Elizabeth Regan claimed the award in 2010.
This is the second year in a row and fourth time overall that Bucknell has had three members of the Academic All-Patriot League Team. Brandt and Meerscheidt are both repeat selections, and they join Jillian O'Mara (2011-12) and Margo Boyd (2014-15) as Bucknell's only two-time recipients.
Meerscheidt claimed the league's top scholar-athlete honor after earning First Team All-Patriot League honors this spring while maintaining a 3.92 cumulative grade-point average as a double major in anthropology and English/literary studies. Meerscheidt is a Phi Beta Kappa inductee who completed an honors theses entitled, "The Fifth Vital Sign: An Anthropological Analysis of Productive and Unproductive Pain". She served as a teaching assistant in the anthropology department and received the Meerwarth Prize for Anthropology in Action, awarded to the senior demonstrating the most outstanding performance in anthropology.
Meerscheidt presented original research at the 2019 and 2022 Center for Social Science Research Posters Plus Research Symposiums. A two-time CRCA Scholar-Athlete, she worked last summer with the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty.
On the water, Meerscheidt medaled at the Patriot League Championships in all three of her appearances (the 2020 event was canceled due to COVID-19). She earned silver medals with the Varsity Four as a freshman and with the Second Varsity Eight as a junior before winning gold with the Varsity Eight this spring.
Brandt is a junior biomedical engineering major with a 3.84 cumulative GPA. Brandt was the recipient of the Charles F. White Memorial Prize for Scholar-Athletes last fall, coming off a summer in which she worked in the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. She was part of a project team with a sponsor and partner company to develop a "smart" operating room through the integration of computing devices, processing boards, and environmental sensors to aid in assessing safety and efficiency within the operating room. Brandt worked on a project team at Bucknell this academic year that worked on the ideal design for hearing aids, and another that introduced biomaterials to mimic the function of a tendon, to be used in ACL and other reconstructive surgeries.
Brandt has served as a study group leader in the Bucknell Teaching & Learning Center and as a physics lab teaching assistant. She is a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society and has been active with the e-NABLE Club, which uses 3D printers to make prosthetic devices for those in need.
Brandt has earned All-Patriot League honors in each of the last two seasons. She was a First Team honoree in 2021 and a Second Team honoree in 2022.
Gaggini is a sophomore coxswain with a 3.94 GPA in English/literary studies and environmental studies. She received the President's Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement and served as co-editor of the satire section of The Bucknellian student newspaper.
Gaggini has served as the coxswain of the Varsity Eight in both of her seasons in Orange and Blue. She is already a two-time All-Patriot League honoree after claiming First Team honors this spring, and she has guided the Bison to silver and gold medals in her two league championship appearances.
Bucknell's trio was joined on the Academic All-Patriot League Team by Boston University's Josephine Olson and Lexi Wright, Holy Cross' Josie Ascione, Lehigh's Bella Popov, MIT's Allison King, and Navy's Millie Oldham, Hanna Prince, and Sky Schork.
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