Elena Delle Donne named Outstanding Athlete

University of Delaware basketball star Elena Delle Donne was named the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association's Outstanding Amateur Athlete, PSWA president Ron Corbin announced Tuesday.

Delle Donne, a unanimous choice for the Associated Press preseason all-American team, will be honored during the group's 109th annual Sports Awards Dinner on Jan. 28 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill.

The 6-foot-5 senior, who led the nation in scoring with 28.1 points per game, was a consensus first-team all-American last season. She also won the Colonial Athletic Association player-of-the-year award for the second time in three years.

The Blue Hens went 31-2 and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Season honors. Clearview High graduate Kevin Burke, the Rutgers-Camden men's soccer senior captain, was named a first-team academic all-American, becoming the school's first athlete to earn that distinction.

Rowan midfielder Ryan Gordon was named to the Capital One/College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) academic all-American second team.

To be nominated for the program, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore with a 3.3 or higher cumulative grade point average and be a starter or significant reserve.

Weekly awards. Philadelphia University freshman forward Peter Alexis was named the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference men's basketball rookie of the week for the second consecutive week.

Alexis averaged 21.0 points while shooting 68.0 percent from the field in a pair of victories last week.

Cabrini's Amber Keys was named Colonial States Athletic Conference women's basketball player of the week, and Fran Rafferty was named to the CSAC men's basketball honor roll.

High rankings. The first regular-season polls from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America were released, and both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams from the College of New Jersey were ranked among the top Division III programs in the nation.

The men, led by coach Brian Bishop, is 10th overall. Women's coach Jennifer Harnett has her team ranked 11th. Both squads are off to 3-0 starts, having defeated Montclair State, Ramapo, and NYU.

Delaware Valley College senior 149-pounder Emmanuel Ajagbe moved up three spots to third in his weight class in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Division III rankings.

Ajagbe, a 2010 national qualifier, is off to the best start of his collegiate career, winning eight of his first nine matches - including five triumphs over higher-division competitors. He took top honors at the Ursinus College Fall Brawl and followed with a runner-up showing in the East Stroudsburg University Open.