Sara Yungner Named Elite 88 Award Winner At NCAA Women’s Hockey Championship

Gustavus senior defender Sara Yungner (Maple Grove, Minn./Wayzata) was named the winner of the 2011 Elite 88 Award at the NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Championship banquet in Rochester, New York on Thursday night.  The Elite 88 Award honors the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average participating at the finals site of each of the NCAA’s national championships.

The initiative is the result of former NCAA President Myles Brand’s desire to recognize student-athlete success on the associations highest athletic stages.

Yungner, a four-year regular and captain of the 2010-11 squad, has compiled 10 goals and 29 assists for 39 points in 102 career games.  A 2009-10 All-Conference honoree and a 2010-11 All-Conference honorable mention selection, Yungner is a biology major with a 3.95 cumulative grade point average.

“It is humbling for me to be around such gifted student-athletes,” commented Gustavus head coach Mike Carroll.  “For Sara to work as hard as she does on the ice and also maintain a 3.95 cumulative grade point average in a major as demanding as biology is an amazing accomplishment and speaks to her work ethic and discipline.  She is very deserving of this prestigious award.”

This is the second consecutive year that a Gustavus student-athlete has received the Elite 88 Award in women’s hockey as Nara Higano was honored last season.