KANSAS CITY, MO.---Basketball players at Division III independent institutions were honored today as the top performers in December and January by the Association of Division III Independents. Nicole Zapolski, a junior forward from Keystone College, and Josef Woldense, a sophomore forward at Bard College, were named today as the recipients of the December 2003 Student-Athlete of the Month awards. The January 2004 Student-Athlete of the Month award winners are Joanna Bess, a senior guard at Thomas More College, and Matt Bahl, a senior guard from Colorado College.

Zapolski, a sport and recreation management major from Hop Bottom, PA, scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a 68-63 victory over Lycoming December 15. Two nights later, she topped that performance with 25 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and three steals in an 82-74 win against Rutgers-Camden. For the season, Zapolski has recorded seven double-doubles and is leading the team in scoring (18.6 points per game) and rebounds (12.2 per game). She was named the female athlete of the month at Keystone in both November and December.

Woldense, a political science major from Asmara, Eritrea, averaged 25 points, 13 rebounds and nearly four blocks per game during Bard’s five December contests. He twice was named as the Hudson Valley player of the week during the month. Woldense leads the Raptors in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, and recently set the single-season school record with 64 blocked shots. Twice during December he established a school record with eight blocked shots in a game.

Bess led Thomas More to a 6-0 record in January, during which she averaged 13.7 points per game. In a January 9 contest against Methodist, Bess became the 11th player in school history to score 1,000 points. In that game, she scored 19 points and had four rebounds and three assists. The following day at Ferrum, Bess scored 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds and recorded six assists en route to earning her third most valuable player award this season. For the month, Bess also led the team in steals and was third in assists. She has a 3.36 grade-point average as a biology major, and intends to become a veterinarian or zoologist.

Bahl averaged 19 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists while leading Colorado College to a 5-2 overall record in January. The squad posted a 3-0 mark against Division III opponents in January, and a 2-0 record against Division II teams. Bahl scored a career-high 35 points against LaVerne and tied the school record with nine three-pointers in 13 attempts. He became just the fourth player in school history to reach the 1,400-point plateau when he scored 17 in a loss to Division I Northern Colorado. During that game, he also moved into third place with 235 career three-pointers. Bahl carries a 3.72 grade-point average and is the cochair of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

The Association of Division III Independents consists of 20 Division III independent institutions that have come together to face the unique challenges that confront independent institutions. The Association strives to enhance communication and professional development among administrators of Division III independent institutions; contributes to effective participation by independent institutions in the Division III governance structure; and seeks equitable opportunities for participation in NCAA championships for student-athletes at its member institutions.

The awards are the fourth and fifth of nine monthly awards offered by the Association, which began formal operations in September 2002. All student-athletes from the Association’s 20 members were eligible for the award. Each school was allowed to nominate its top performing male and female student-athletes from November. The award recipients were selected after a vote of the Association’s Student-Athlete Recognition Committee.

More information about the Association of Division III Independents is available at www.d3independents.org.

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