Northeast-10 Conference Elite 24 Award
2020-21 Cross Country Elite 24 Awards
2020-21 Soccer Elite 24 Awards
2020-21 Track & Field Elite 24 Awards

EASTON, Mass. (March 26, 2021) -- Franklin Pierce University student-athletes have garnered five Elite 24 awards from the Northeast-10 Conference, as announced over the course of recent weeks by the NE10.

The Ravens took both the men’s and women’s soccer awards, thanks to graduate student Carlos Ferrando Felis (Tavernes de la Valldigna, Spain) and junior Viridiana Vazquez Kloss (Veracruz, Mexico), respectively. It was a sweep of men’s and women’s cross country as well, with awards going to juniors Riley Fenoff (Danville, Vt.) and Alena Masterson (Pelham, N.H.), respectively. Graduate student Marisa Carbone (Scarborough, Maine) rounded out Franklin Pierce’s honorees by taking the award for women’s indoor track & field.

Per the NE10: “The Elite 24 Award recognizes the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA participating at the finals site at each NE10 Championship. No fall or winter championships were played in 2020-21, but the Elite 24 winners have been determined by comparing the GPA of all NE10 student-athletes on a sport-by-sport basis.”

Felis, who boasts a 3.98 GPA as a health sciences major, is the first Franklin Pierce student-athlete to take home the Elite 24 award in men’s soccer. A year ago, he was the NE10 Defender of the Year, as well as a Second Team All-America selection by United Soccer Coaches.

It marked the first time Ravens women’s soccer has won an Elite 24 award as well, with Kloss being recognized for her perfect, 4.0 GPA as a business management major. She has been named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll in each of her five semesters on campus thus far.

Fenoff took the men’s cross country award for the second straight year, with a 4.0 GPA as a psychology major. For the 2019 season, he was an All-NE10 Second Team and USTFCCCA All-East Region performer, and also collected CoSIDA Academic All-District Team and NE10 Academic All-Conference accolades.

Masterson is also a repeat winner on the women’s cross country front, as she carries a 4.0 GPA as a communications major. In each of her five semesters as a Raven, she has landed on the NE10 Academic Honor Roll.

Carbone collected the women’s indoor track & field honor with a 3.97 GPA as a health sciences major. An NE10 Academic All-Conference pick a year ago, Carbone has been named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll on seven occasions.