General | 11/13/2025 11:00:00 AM
TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) – Washington & Jefferson College senior Chloe LoCastro (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) and Bethany College senior Ian Stempler (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Farmingdale College) were named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Scholar-Athletes of the Month for October.
Each month, the SAAC groups at PAC member institutions are asked to nominate one male and one female student-athlete for PAC SAAC Scholar-Athlete of the Month consideration based on academic and athletic accomplishments. Nominees must be varsity team members in their respective sport and in their junior or senior year. Scholar-Athlete of the Month nominees must also have a cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher and be actively involved within their campus communities.
LoCastro helped W&J to a strong October on the course. She placed 70th (23:19.7) at the Greater Louisville Classic as the team finished 10th of 45 teams, then followed with a 14th-place finish (22:44.9) at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble, helping W&J to fourth overall on October 18th. She capped the month with a sixth-place finish (24:21.0) at the PAC Championships, earning First Team All-PAC honors and helping the Presidents capture the first PAC Women’s Cross Country Championship in program history.
An Economics major with a concentration in Mathematics and Finance, LoCastro maintains a 3.96 GPA. She received the 2024–25 William G. and Belle M. Marshall Prize in Economics and is a six-time Dean’s List honoree and two-time W&J Alpha Scholar. She is also a member of Alpha Lambda Delta and Omicron Delta Epsilon. LoCastro earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors, was named to the PAC Sportsmanship Team for cross country in 2024–25, and has been named to the PAC Academic Honor Roll every semester since Fall 2022.
On campus, LoCastro is a member of Delta Gamma, serving as Director of House Management and Director of Social Awareness since October 2024. She is also part of the Washington Fellows Program and a member of the Order of Omega Honors Society. LoCastro spent two consecutive summers at UPMC in Pittsburgh, Pa., as a Finance Summer Associate in 2025 with the Heart & Vascular Institute, where she developed a Power BI dashboard tracking procedural volumes across 21 hospitals, and in 2024 in Revenue Cycle, monitoring call-off management of staff across the same facilities.
Female October honorable mention nominees included: Bethany’s Mary Tracey (cross country); Geneva’s Hailey Carroll (cross country); Waynesburg’s Julia Corey (tennis); and Westminster’s Liv Trent (volleyball).
Stempler helped the Bison to a 4-4 record in October, scoring two goals. He opened the month with the team’s first goal in a 3-2 win over Chatham on October 4, recording one goal, four shots, and one shot on goal. The senior forward scored the Bison’s lone goal in a 5-1 loss on October 18. At 35:14, Stempler scored on a penalty kick, marking his team-leading fifth goal of the season.
A Sports Management major with a 3.4 cumulative GPA, Stempler is a member of the Sports Studies Honors Society.
Stempler served as the Student Athlete Advisory Committee representative for men’s soccer and the team captain. In addition to his leadership in the men’s soccer program, he has contributed to campus life as an Enrollment and Financial Aid Officer during the 2025 summer at Bethany College.
Male October honorable mention nominees included: Allegheny’s Aidan Dyga (soccer); Geneva’s Seth Tyson (football); Waynesburg’s Matthew Karpeal (golf); and Westminster’s Dylan Sleva (football).