Wingate's Patel, Griesche Named South Atlantic Conference Cross Country Scholar-Athletes of the Year

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) –Wingate's Nepolian Patel was voted the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Men's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Valerie Griesche of Wingate picked up the Women's Cross Country honor, the League announced today. The pair of Bulldogs earned the honor for their achievements in academics, athletics, service and leadership.

The South Atlantic Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is presented annually to one student-athlete in each of the Conference's championship sports, and is voted on by the SAC's Faculty Athletic Representatives Committee.

Patel, a redshirt-senior Pharmacy major from Bailey, N.C., boasts an undergrad 3.76 GPA and a 3.27 in his major courses. Patel has earned Academic All-District honors twice in his career, has been named to the Dean's list on three separate occasions, as well as earning three appearances on the South Atlantic Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll. Patel earned Wingate University President's List honors during his freshman season.

"I'm thrilled to see Nepolian's hard work pay dividends in his final year of cross country," said Ashley Glover, Wingate Cross Country Head Coach. "As a team, we have become too accustomed to the casual conversation regarding his long study hours, the late night flights to make a competition, his constant fight for sleep and the hours he spends on his feet in the pharmacy (school) each week. In my opinion, it is nothing short of amazing that he has done this while being a student-athlete and maintaining a high GPA. His drive to succeed and follow his passion makes him a good leader on the team. I'm proud of Nepolian and can't wait to see what's next for him on his list of achievements…because he's not done yet."

Patel has been a formidable runner for the Bulldogs since his freshman year, including being named Wingate's team MVP his sophomore and junior years. A two time All-SAC selection, he was named to the All-Southeast Region team his junior year and posted seven top ten finishes as a Bulldog. On the 8K course, Patel posted his best time of 25:23 with a third place performance at the 2015 South Atlantic Cross Country Championship meet. Patel finished second at the 2017 Bulldog Stampede with a time of 32:41.4, setting a personal record on the 10k course.

On top of his efforts and contributions in the classroom and on the running course, Patel, during his junior year, was the first Wingate Cross Country student-athlete to gain admittance to the University's School of Pharmacy.

Patel has also given his time for numerous causes while at Wingate. During the 2015-16 academic year he was the Wingate University chapter social chair, and currently he is the Immunization char, and Power to End Stroke chair. As the chair his duties include communication, chair oversight, event and community. He has been a member of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) since 2015.

In partnership with the American Pharmacist Association, Patel helped run three events, Safety Palooza (Sept. 2016), Diabetes testing (Sept. 2015) and Blood Drive (Oct. 2015). During his junior year he volunteered with Operation Sandwich for the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists. At the event, he provided ingredients/food for the underserved.

Patel volunteered for the Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International (CPFI) Samaritan's Feet event in Nov. 2015, assisting in every aspect of the day (meeting community members, packing shoes for the homeless, etc.)  The honor is his first Men's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor.

Wingate University Vice-President and Director of Athletics, Steve Poston added, "We are pleased to add Valerie and Nepolian's names to a long list of Bulldog student-athletes who have excelled in athletic competition and in the classroom. To be named a SAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year is one of the highest honors a student-athlete can achieve. Their achievements are a source of great pride for the athletic department and the entire Wingate University community." 

Griesche, a senior biology major from Ingolstadt, Germany, carries a perfect 4.0 GPA. She has made the President's List her first seven semesters at Wingate, and joined the Wingate University Honors Program during her first semester of her sophomore year. This past season, Griesche was named the 2017 Women's Cross Country Elite 20 honor as she posted the highest GPA at the South Atlantic Conference Cross County Championship.

"This is a great way to top off Valerie's senior cross country season," said Wingate head cross country coach Ashley Glover. "Valerie has gracefully fought through four years of a difficult curriculum while making it look easy. I love to see how she applies her course work in research during the school year. I'm very grateful to have Valerie as a leader for our women. She has a clear vision of her future and has showed the team she will fight until she gets there. I am proud of the way she has represented the University and Conference with her academic and athletic success."

She was a three-time All-South Atlantic Conference selection and All-Freshman team honoree. On the SAC cross country awards podium, she was honorable mention All-SAC at the 2016 SAC cross country meet with her 5K time of 19:29. Griesche was second team All-SAC at the 2014 SAC cross country meet, thanks to her 12th place finish and her 19:31 5K time. Griesche has been a member of two Conference Championship teams, and has qualified for the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship during her first three seasons.

Griesche has been named to the South Atlantic Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll her first three years at Wingate. As a junior she was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America T&F/XC Third Team, and served as a junior marshal for Wingate University's May 2017 Commencement Exercises.

Off the running course, she has made a name for herself in the classroom. For three semesters, Griesche has been working with Dr. Melissa Fox on a cancer research project. Using various experimental methods, she studied the role of the metabolic regulator AMPKa2 in cancer cells and its potential as a treatment method. Currently, Griesche is working on her honors senior project which involves wound healing assays and uses fluorescence to investigate the activity of various proteins involved in migration of breast cancer cells.

During Wingate's Creative and Investigative Partnership Research Symposium, Griesche presented the findings of her research on cancer cells. In the frame of a research project for her molecular genetics class, Griesche and a classmate collected DNA samples of more than 70 members of her extended family to create a pedigree of their genetic fingerprint.

Griesche has also made a big impact through her extensive involvement in the Wingate community. Since her freshman year, Griesche has been working at the Academic Resource Center (ARC) at Wingate University to tutor various classes including Principles of Cell and Molecular Biology, Organic Chemistry, Statistics, Spanish and German. She participated in tutor training and gained CRLA Level I and Level II certification (paid position).

During this year's summer break, Griesche promoted two charity organizations, UNICEF and DKHW, for five weeks. She actively informed people about the organizations' important work and tried to win them as supporters.

Griesche and a group of WU students dedicated this day to help and give back to the community. Volunteering projects involved fixing the playground of a local day care, cleaning up and gardening the yard of a church and helping with donations received for the poor.

During the Special Olympics event, Griesche got to meet many passionate children and adults with intellectual disabilities. The goal was to show them the basics of her sport and work out together. "This was a great experience to see all the passionate athletes and form community with them," Griesche says.

The "One Day, One Dog" Day of Giving days were designed to give back to the campus community and beyond. Griesche participated in various activities which involved supporting a group of girls who participated in Girls on the Run, preparing and cleaning up the trails around the WU campus lake and packing backpacks for military veterans.

At the site of the 2015 & 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships, Griesche participated in different service projects which involved a kindergarten and a Boys and Girls Club.

In the Spring of 2016, Griesche and a group of Wingate University students visited a school in Florida with a high percentage of socially underprivileged students, with most of them possessing immigration backgrounds. The WU group educated them about the importance of college education for their future, shared about their own college experiences and inspired them to go to college. The group gave them confidence and encouraged them to stand up for themselves and their education.

The Xcel 2 Fitness project focuses on character formation and team-building abilities of young boys. When volunteering for these events, Griesche would help the boys grow as a person and as a member of a team. The children formed community, became more self-confident and learned the value of each individual for the team became apparent.

The honor is her first Women's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year plaudit.

Other Men's Cross Country Nominees:
Luke Greer, Carson-Newman
Aubrey Hite, Lenoir-Rhyne

Other Women's Cross Country Nominees:
Hayden Francis, Newberry

Erin Illich, Lenoir-Rhyne

Bekah White, Carson-Newman

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