NEW LONDON, N.H. – October 16, 2019 – Colby-Sawyer senior Ben Lewis (Needham, Mass.), of the baseball team, has been named one of four members on the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Commissioner's Council.   

Joining Lewis will be men's soccer/men's lacrosse junior Morgan Mercier (Lincolnville, Maine) of Emmanuel College, field hockey junior Natalie Rivas (Andover, N.J.) of Johnson & Wales University, and track & field senior Lillian Bisset (Jefferson, Maine) of Saint Joseph's College of Maine.

The leadership team of Lewis, Mercier, Rivas and Bisset will work closely with GNAC national SAAC representative Mikayla Arimura (San Clemente, Calif.), a JWU women's volleyball senior student-athlete, to enhance the GNAC's SAAC efforts and create a communication channel with the conference office and administrators spanning all 13 core member institutions. For more on Arimura's appointment as the GNAC's national rep, please click here.

Identified as a strategic recommendation stemming from the GNAC's NCAA Conference Self-Study Guide (CSSG) back in 2018, last year the GNAC launched a conference SAAC featuring three student-athletes from each of the league's 13 schools. With the support of the GNAC Presidents' Council, it is part of the conference's plan to further emphasize the student-athlete experience and promote student-athlete success through its strategic planning efforts.

Along with Arimura, the four student-athletes will head to Anaheim this January to attend the 2020 NCAA Convention under the guidance of Commissioner Walsh and GNAC Assistant Commissioner Michael Ghika.

The group will also play a role in the upcoming GNAC Fall SAAC Forum at Emmanuel this December, as well as the GNAC Spring SAAC Forum next March in Boston.

Last year's December event saw SAAC members partner with Special Olympics Massachusetts for a unified kickball game at Emmanuel, an experience that was nominated for the NCAA Division III February 2019 Special Olympics Spotlight Poll.

Lewis, a 6-1 left-handed hitting outfielder for the Chargers, appeared in nine games for Colby-Sawyer last spring and is a Sport Management major.

"I am absolutely thrilled and honored to be part of this group," said Lewis. "The opportunity to represent Colby-Sawyer while working with this great group of student-athletes and the GNAC staff is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I look forward to giving all of the athletes in our conference a voice and chance to be heard."

Courtesy of the GNAC > to read the full release click HERE

For the latest on Colby-Sawyer Athletics, follow the Chargers on Facebook (www.facebook.com/CSCathletics), Twitter (www.twitter.com/CSCathletics) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/CSCathletics).