Winter/Spring UB Athletic Awards
By Chris Hogan
Managing News Editor
Coach of the Year: Stephanie Del Preore – Women’s Basketball. After being selected to finish in sixth place in the East Coast Conference preseason poll and starting the season 3-7, the Purple Knights season would turn around after a big win over Southern New Hampshire University on Dec. 30. Del Preore would lead her team to winning nine of the final twelve regular season games to finish in third place to end the season. Two of her players, seniors Kelly Keil (first team) and Elinor Avny (second team) earned ECC All Conference Honors.
Player of the Year: Kelly Keil – Women’s Basketball. This past season, Keil saw her entire game improve after spending the 2009-2010 season as a reserve. She finished the 2010-2011 campaign averaging 15.8 points per game 8.5 rebounds and a school record 95 blocks in a season. A First Team all ECC, Keil was also named ECC player of the week on three occasions and her best game as a senior came on Feb 19 against Queens College when she scored 25 points and recorded 17 rebounds while blocking four shots.
Freshman of the Year: TIE: Sonia Perez Arau –Women’s swimming and Oscar Pereiro – Men’s swimming. Both swimmers represented UB in the 2011 Division II National Championship Swim Match. Arau, who was named National Division II Swimmer of the Week back in December, finished in sixth place in 200-yard backstroke at the tournament had also earned three individual All-American honors. Pereiro captured the men’s 100- yard backstroke honor at the championship match. He was also named national collegiate male swimmer of the week in January by CollegeSwimming.com.
Sophomore of the Year: Monica Mesalles – Women’s Gymnastics. Coming off a 10th place finish at the University of Michigan Division I Regional match, Mesalles has fared well as one of the top players on the team. Her best highlights this season was finishing as the top scorer winner of each competition in three consecutive at the Rhode Island College Invitational, University of New Hampshire meet and Rutgers University Tri-Meet.
Junior of the Year: Josh Martin – Men’s Basketball. A transfer this past season from the Community College of Philadelphia, Martin provided a boast to the starting shooting guard position as he finished third on the team with 12.1 points per game and second on the team in both assists and steals. Next season, he will take on a bigger role as a leader for the Purple Knights with three graduating senior starters.
Senior of the Year: Piotr Safronczyk – Men’s swimming. The 2011 Division II National Championship match saw Safronczyk earned Three All-American Honors after a fifth place finish in the 200- Yard backstroke. It was also the second consecutive season in which he won the 100-yard Breaststroke and also participated on this year’s UB championship relay team in the 200-yard Freestyle and the 200-yard Medley.
No comments:
Post a Comment