Northern Illinois University seniors Emily Romancew (women’s golf) and Colin Summerhill (baseball) are the 2024 Mid-American Conference Medal of Excellence recipients for NIU, as announced by the conference on Friday. Romancew and Summerhill will be presented with the award, along with the honorees from each MAC institution, at the 2024 Honors Dinner Ceremony on Thursday, May 30th.
Romancew capped off her senior season by being named to the All-MAC First Team after earning second team honors in 2023. On the season, Romancew posted a career-low scoring average of 74.07 while playing in all 10 tournaments. She recorded eight Top 15 finishes and claimed medalist honors at the NAU Red Rocks Invitational in Sedona, Arizona for her first career victory. Romancew placed seventh at the MAC Championships, leading the team to a third-place finish. She finished her career with the fifth-lowest stroke average in NIU history. Romancew also was named to the Academic All-MAC Team three times in her career.
Summerhill was named to the All-MAC Second Team after setting the NIU single-season home run record this year with 19, breaking the previous record of 15 set in 2003. The senior catcher led the MAC with 65 runs batted in and was fourth in home runs. His 65 RBI are the second-most in a single season in NIU history. Summerhill opened the season with seven homers in his first 13 games. He had four multi-home run games, including on April 9 when Summerhill drove in a career-high six runs with a grand slam and a two-run home run. That game started a streak of five consecutive games with a home run which was punctuated by his record-setting 16th home run of the year on April 19 against Kent State.
To be honored with the Medal of Excellence Award, student-athletes had to participate on the varsity level in a conference sponsored sport and shown evidence of academic success with a minimum 3.50 cumulative grade-point average, exhibited athletic excellence, leadership and service. The award is presented annually to one male and one female student-athlete from each of the 12 conference member institutions and are selected by each institution.