May 5, 2014
Gibbs, Cessar earn Sportsman, Sportswoman of Year
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Senior football player Chris Gibbs and
senior multi-sport standout Sarah Cessar have been respectively named as Grove
City College’s Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year for the 2013-14 academic
year.
Gibbs started all four seasons in the secondary, having
played cornerback, free safety and strong safety for the Wolverines. In 2013, he
started all nine games at strong safety and recorded 80 total tackles. He led
all Presidents' Athletic Conference defensive backs in total tackles. Gibbs also
led the conference with three forced fumbles.
Gibbs led Grove City with 79 tackles in 2011 and ranked
second with 68 stops last year. He made 34 career starts.
This season, he earned First Team Division III Academic
All-America honors from Capital One and the College Sports Information Directors
of America (CoSIDA). He earned Second Team Academic All-America last year,
becoming the first Grove City football player to twice earn Academic
All-America. Gibbs also earned CoSIDA Academic All-District in 2011, 2012 and
2013.
A biology major, Gibbs earned Dean's List recognition and
has been named to the conference's Academic Honor Roll. He recently earned a
prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. In the summer of 2013, he spent 10
weeks working in genomic research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Gibbs also received the College's Senior Man of the Year award Saturday. He is the fifth man to earn Sportsman of the Year and Senior Man of the Year in the same year, joining Don Shockey (1963), Curt Siverling (1985), Mike Ritter (2006) and Mike Manahan (2008). Peggy Whitbeck earned Sportswoman of the Year and Senior Woman of the Year in 2004.
Cessar earned eight total letters at Grove City. She
lettered in each of her four seasons as a midfielder for the women’s soccer
team. Cessar owns three letters as a middle distance runner for the Grove City
women’s track and field team and she also lettered as a forward for the women’s
basketball team during her freshman year.
Last fall, Cessar earned NSCAA First Team All-Great Lakes
Region at midfield for the second straight year. She became the first Grove City
women's soccer player to earn First Team All-Region honors in consecutive years.
Cessar started 22 matches this year for the Wolverines
(12-9-1 overall) and ranked second on the team in goals (7), assists (6) and
total points (20). She also earned First Team All-Presidents' Athletic
Conference for the second straight year. Cessar concluded her career with 18
goals and 11 assists in 73 career matches. She made 63 starts over her final
three seasons. Grove City went 50-28-6 in her career.
The Wolverines qualified for the NCAA Championship
Tournament following her junior season and reached the second round. Grove City
advanced to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Southern Championship
Tournament following the 2010, 2011 and 2013 seasons.
In track and field, Cessar held Grove City’s record in
the 3000 steeplechase (11:27.26) for two years and currently ranks second
all-time at the College in that event.
Last weekend, Cessar placed fourth in the steeplechase
and seventh in the 5000 meters at the Presidents’ Athletic Conference
Championships, helping the Wolverines to the conference title. As a sophomore,
she took second in the steeplechase at the conference meet. Cessar has qualified
for the ECAC Championships in both the steeplechase and the 3200 relay during
her career.
A biology/secondary education major, Cessar is a Dean’s
List student who has been inducted into the Beta Beta Beta biology honorary.
Go to Grove City Sports