Galloway, N.J. – Four Stockton University student-athletes were recognized as 2021 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars by the publication
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Stockton student-athletes received Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar accolades for the sixth consecutive year.
The three male selections were cross country and track & field runner
Daniel Do (Galloway/Absegami), lacrosse player
Will Pellicier (Monrovia, Md./Linganore) and track & field competitor
Darren Wan (Egg Harbor Twp./EHT). Lacrosse player
Celest Orbe (Egg Harbor Twp./EHT) was the lone female honoree for Stockton.
To qualify, student-athletes must be persons of color with a minimum 3.20 grade point average after at least one year of college. The awards are inspired by tennis legend Arthur Ashe Jr.'s commitment to education, and they celebrate the accomplishments of hundreds of student-athletes nationwide.
Do and Pellicier received the honor for the second straight year. Do also was the national runner-up for Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Athlete of the Year and the national sport winner for track & field this spring.
Do, a senior, is a three-time NJAC First Team runner in cross country (2017, 2019, Spring 2021) who has recorded two race victories and 12 top-10 finishes in his four-year career. He also is a four-year letter winner in track & field who holds school records in the indoor 3000-meter run and outdoor 5000-meter run.
Do is a Biochemistry/Molecular Biology major at Stockton with a perfect 4.00 grade point average. He already has earned his certification from the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and he is planning to pursue a doctorate in Food Science at Ohio State University.
Wan, a Business major with a lofty 3.99 GPA, is a senior who is in his third season on the Stockton track & field team after competing at Rutgers University as a freshman. He has earned NJAC Second Team nods twice (2019 outdoor hammer throw, 2020 outdoor weight throw) and NJAC Honorable Mention once (2019 outdoor discus).
During the 2020 indoor season, Wan broke the 25-year-old school record in the weight throw with a new mark of 17.68 meters. This spring, he broke the school record in the hammer throw, which stood for 14 years, and has extended it out to 58.17 meters, a distance that currently ranks seventh in NCAA Division III.
Pellicier has played 42 games in his four years in a defensive midfielder role for the Stockton men's lacrosse team. The senior has totaled 22 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers plus a goal and five assists at the offensive end during his career.
A Criminal Justice major with a 3.73 GPA, Pellicier recently was chosen as Stockton's representative on the Colonial States Athletic Conference All-Sportsmanship Team.
Orbe is a four-year letter winner on defense who played in 27 career games for the Osprey women's lacrosse team and totaled nine ground balls and three caused turnovers. She moved into the starting lineup this season, opening in all seven games in which she played. Orbe is a Health Science major with a 3.60 grade point average.
