BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Gannon University’s David Rung earns recognition from the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) office.as the 2020-21 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC)-West Region Sports Information Director of the Year.
Selected by the CWPA Director of Communications, the SID of the Year award is presented to individuals who “have achieved notable excellence in the field of water polo communications during the past academic year.”
Rung, who picked up water polo SID duties prior to the start of the season following the departure of 2019 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC)-West Region SID of the Year Kayla Peterson, assumed the role as Gannon’s Director of Athletics Media Relations in 2018-19. after spending the last three years as the sports information director at NCAA Division II Newman (Kansas) University of the Heartland Conference. In addition to his sports information duties, Rung added the title of Associate Director of Athletics at Newman in January 2017. As part of his day-to-day duties, he was the primary contact for all 18 of Newman’s athletics teams and responsible for statistics and record keeping, upkeep of the athletics website (www.newmanjets.com), publications, promotional materials and social media efforts. He also served on the Hall of Fame committee and Board of Directors for the Jet Open charity golf tournament and Newman Athletic Club.
Rung successfully promoted a number of student-athletes for local, regional and national awards during his time at Newman, including 65 conference players of the week, two region players of the week, and two national players of the week. He also helped Newman student-athletes bring home seven College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America awards and 24 CoSIDA Academic All-District awards.
Prior to his stay at Newman, Rung served as a graduate assistant in athletic communications at Arkansas Tech in Russellville, Arkansas. He was the primary contact for Arkansas Tech’s women’s volleyball, women’s basketball, softball, women’s golf and men’s golf teams. In addition, he assisted in the promotion of the department’s remaining sports.
Rung completed a smooth transition into the profession after spending the previous four years in the news media. He served as a sports writer and assistant sports editor at The Sentinel newspaper in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and as a sports writer with The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for two years each.
As an intern with The Patriot-News in 2009, Rung was part of a group that was presented an honorable-mention award by the Associated Press Sports Editors for project reporting. He was also a member of a staff that received numerous APSE top 10 awards for daily and Sunday sections. In addition, Rung was honored by the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors for his coverage of the 2013 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Wrestling Championships.
The Harrisburg, Pa., native graduated in December 2009 from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in sports history. He later received his master of liberal arts from Arkansas Tech in May 2016.
The award marks the fifth honor bestowed exclusively to MAWPC-West institutions following the division of the CWPA men’s teams into the MAWPC and Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) during the Summer of 2016.
Further, it marks the sixth time a Gannon SID has been recognized by the league office following prior nods in 2014 (CWPA Women’s Division I/II SID of the Year – Will Nowadly), 2016 (MAWPC-West SID of the Year – Levi Rex & Dan Teliski), 2017 (MAWPC-West SID of the Year – Levi Rex), 2018 (MAWPC-West SID of the Year – Josh Hill) and 2019 ((MAWPC-West SID of the Year – Kayla Peterson).
