Tech\’s Vlaisavljevich Named WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Michigan Tech senior Eli Vlaisavljevich was named the WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year the league announced Thursday (March 18). Vlaisavljevich joins Geoff Sarjeant (1992) as the only Huskies to earn the award.

Vlaisavljevich, a senior defenseman from Shoreview, Minn., has been named a WCHA Scholar-Athlete three times and to the All-WCHA Academic Team three times during his collegiate career at Michigan Tech. He currently carries a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average in biomedical engineering. Vlaisavljevich is also among 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award for 2009-10, has been awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship and the Michigan Tech’s Provost Award for Scholarship, and was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District First Team. He helps in several elementary classrooms, is a mentor with the Michigan Tech Athletics Koaches Kids Program and volunteers with the Copper Country Junior Hockey Association. Vlaisavljevich appeared in 111 career games for the Huskies with 10 points (three goals, seven assists).

The WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year Award is determined from nominations made by the member institutions and each institution then has one final vote. The criteria is as follows: 1) must be a senior student-athlete, i.e. one who is finishing his competition as an eligible player in the WCHA; 2) consistently displays outstanding sportsmanship on and off the ice; 3) is a good student making satisfactory progress toward a degree; and 4) is a good hockey player who has performed consistently as a regular member of the team.