Photo Recap of Reception
HAMBURG, NY – The Hilbert College Athletics Department proudly honored their 2012-2013 student-athletes in its annual Athletic Awards Reception April 29. Following the Swan Auditorium ceremony, a casual light-fare snacks reception was held in the West Herr Atrium.
President Cynthia Zane’s welcoming remarks opened the evening of celebration and Hilbert’s Susan Viscomi, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, served as the program’s emcee.
The evening consisted of a series of presentations which profiled Hilbert’s student-athlete academic achievements and senior athlete award presentations. Daniel McFarland, selected as this year’s senior speaker, addressed his fellow student-athletes prior to each head coach introducing their individual award winners. At the conclusion of the celebration, the McGrath Award winners were introduced and will forever be enshrined in the Hilbert record book.
Eleven of the thirteen NCAA Division III teams are members of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. The AMCC honors student-athletes who maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher by the completion of the fall semester, each year. Eighty-one athletes, a Hilbert College all-time high, were announced as members of the 2013 AMCC Academic All-Conference team. Further, fifty-four of those athletes were honored as Individual Peak Performers, for carrying a 3.5 or higher cumulative grade point average. Follow (this link) for the complete list of AMCC Academic All Conference members.
The men’s lacrosse team is an associate member of the North Eastern Athletic Conference, which announces their yearly Academic All-Conference team at the conclusion of a full academic cycle. Those athletes must achieve a 3.4 cumulative grade point average to be recognized by the NEAC. A full release will follow once the NEAC team is announced in the early summer. But Hilbert would like to identify these lacrosse players who achieved the same 3.2 gpa as their fellow AMCC student-athletes: Shaughn Irving, Sean Manning, John Pingitore, and Doug Takac.
The women’s lacrosse program, competing as an independent institution their inaugural season, does not have a conference academic standard to meet and will not be able to recognize the academic success of their athletes. Yet, these student-athletes met the same 3.2 gpa and should be announced as well: Rachael Bergman, Shannon Campbell, Harley Decker, Caitlyn Jacob, Kelly Mandell, and Chantelle Mikolajczak.
And lastly, a special acknowledgment goes out to the following student-athletes who earned a perfect 4.0 in the fall semester: John Babosci, Robbi Bailey, Scott Cvetkovski, Caitlyn Jacob, Fred Sickau, Stephanie Smith and Natalie Whitman.
The 2013 edition of Hilbert’s Chi Alpha Sigma New York Theta Chapter followed the All-Conference academic awards. This National College Athlete Honor Society honors junior and senior student-athletes who carry a grade point average of 3.4 or higher and exhibit good moral character. These twenty newest members were awarded a certificate and a medal of honor: junior John Babocsi, junior Amber Bailey, junior Robbi Bailey, senior Clinton Brown, junior Shannon Ellis, junior Michael Gee, senior Caitlyn Jacob, senior Kyle Kriegbaum, junior Jonathan Monheim, junior Joe Pernick, junior Chelsea Reischuck, junior Julie Rouleau, junior Sarah Schmidt, junior Eliza Stringham, junior Doug Takac, senior Ryan Tofil, junior Adam Weaver, junior Justin Welliver, junior Natalie Whitman and junior Matt Williams. These student-athletes joined the nine previous 2012 inductees.
Head coaches of each program took a few moments to recap their team’s season and to announce each squad’s 2012-13 award recipients. To see a complete list of the Most Valuable, Most Improved and the Coaches Award winners (click here).
Once the bulk of the evening presentations were distributed, Amber Grosch (Depew, NY) and James Knapp (Lockport, NY) were announced as the 2013 McGrath Award winners {in photo}. This prestigious award is provide by Francis and Marie McGrath, two generous benefactors of Hilbert College who stipulate the award be given to one female and one male graduating student-athlete who has demonstrated exemplary achievement both academically and athletically while at Hilbert College. Grosch is graduating with a degree in Criminal Justice after representing the royal in white for all four years on the soccer, the basketball and the softball teams while maintaining a 3.84 cumulative grade point average. Knapp will graduate with a degree in Forensic Science/Crime Scene Investigation after competing all four years on the soccer team and all three seasons in the Division III lacrosse program. Knapp carried a 3.76 into his final semester at Hilbert.