The women's basketballl Bulldogs are owners of the Chancellor's Cup for the second time in the three-year existence of that award after posting the best cumulative grade point average (3.55) of any University of Minnesota Duluth team during the past two semesters. The Bulldogs, who sported seven Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference All-Academic Team honorees on their 2013-14 roster (
Taylor Dillinger,
Danielle Flood,
Alyssa Kerkhoff,
Megan Lueck,
Katrina Newman,
Shauni Payeur and
Hannah Rutten), were officially presented with the Chancellor's Cup at last night's UMD Dinner with Champions at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.
Rutten, a senior center from New York Mills, Minn., was also bestowed with the 2013-14 Shjon Podein Community Service Award, which is annually given to a UMD student-athlete who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the field of play and has made noteworthy humanitarian contributions in the Duluth and University communities. Since her arrival on the UMD campus four years ago, Rutten has engaged herself in a multitude of volunteering endeavors, including the highly-successful "Champions Building Champions " program at the Boy and Girls Club of Duluth, Udac's Walk A Mile In Our Shoes Walkathon, Make-A-Wish, the Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank "Empty Bowl" fundraiser, Toys for Tots, and UMD's annual Community Clean-up event. The 2013-14 Bulldog team co-captain also served as a coach with Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association and in New York Mills the last four seasons. Rutten, who coordinated UMD's 2013 Tackle Cancer Event in conjunction with the school's Student Athlete Advisory Committee and the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, has given over 40 hours of service to the Lake Superior Community Health Center Dental Clinic this spring, providing oral health care to low-income citizens. She appeared in 85 lifetime games with the basketball Bulldogs (including 30 as a starter) and along the way attained NSIC All-Academic status three times.
