Recent Hope College graduate Mike Meeuwsen has been named a first team GTE baseball Academic All-American.
The award climaxes an outstanding senior season for Meeuwsen
who was voted the most valuable player in the Michigan
Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and to the NCAA
Division III Mideast All-Region team.
Hope won the championship of the Michigan Intercollegiate
Athletic Association (MIAA) this spring and qualified for its
first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III championships.
Meeuwsen, the starting catcher and co-captain of the team,
batted .407 during the regular season and was the second leading
batter in conference games with a .417 average. He committed
only four errors in 34 games and finished with 15 extra base hits
including eight home runs. He was a four-year letterwinner and
three-year starter.
He majored in accounting at Hope and was named to the Dean's
List and MIAA Academic Honor Roll all four years. He was the
recipient of the 1998 Wall Street Journal Award as the college's
outstanding senior student in economics and business
administration.
Meeuwsen was selected by USA Athletes International to
represent the United States in the Flanders Invitational Baseball
Tournament in Brasschatt, Belgium.
He is Hope's fourth GTE Academic All-American in baseball.
Other honorees have been Randy Cutler (1984 & 1985), Tom Bylsma (1985 & 1986) and Mark Kuiper (1994 & 1995).
He becomes the 30th Hope student-athletes to achieve GTE
Academic All-American recognition since 1973. During the 1997-98
academic year three Hope students were honored. Joining Meeuwsen
were Ellen Schultz (cross country) and Brandon Graham (football).
A 1994 graduate of Grand Rapids Christian High School, he is
the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward (Sherrill) Meeuwsen of Rockford.