{"id":5564,"date":"2017-05-26T16:15:52","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T21:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/?p=5564"},"modified":"2017-05-31T10:50:52","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T15:50:52","slug":"nate-rodriguez-earns-conference-athlete-year-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/nate-rodriguez-earns-conference-athlete-year-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Nate Rodriguez Earns Conference Athlete of the Year Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even after the culmination of wrestling season, Ä¢¹½´«Ã½\u2019s Nate Rodriguez keeps pinning down awards and accolades.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez just added the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award to his ever-growing trophy case when he was honored at a ceremony in St. Louis. The Paragon Award is awarded annually to one male and one female student-athlete, based upon academic excellence, athletic ability and achievement, character and leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to be recognized here,\u201d says Rodriguez in an interview with Jim Powers, Coordinator of Athletics Communications at Ä¢¹½´«Ã½Saints.com<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s even better that wrestling got promoted into the GLVC, and I think that\u2019s the best thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez becomes the first Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Saint to be honored with the conference athlete of the year award after becoming a national champion in the 141-pound class and graduating from college with a 3.97 GPA. He has been accepted into medical school at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences.<\/p>\n

\u201cNate has been an outstanding student athlete,\u201d says Mark Lombardi, PhD, president of Ä¢¹½´«Ã½, in an interview for Ä¢¹½´«Ã½Saints.com<\/a>. \u201cWe are so thrilled to be able to salute him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nate<\/a>
Photo courtesy of GLVC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saints wrestling head coach Mike Denney says there are very few like Rodriguez who have that combination of being a great student and athlete.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe comes in everyday and works hard,\u201d says Denney. \u201cHe\u2019s like that in the classroom, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the wrestling mat, Rodriguez became the second Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ student-athlete to become a national champion after he defeated Darren Wynn during the NCAA Division II wrestling finals in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels pretty cool, and to do it for Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ is even better,\u201d says Rodriguez. \u201cMy goal this year was to be an NCAA champ. It was on my symbol and it didn\u2019t matter what was going to happen, I was going to reach it.\u201d<\/p>\n

*Rodriguez also accomplished the following during the 2016-17 academic year:<\/p>\n