St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Hosts 71st Annual Athletic Awards Celebration
5/2/2017 12:00:00 AM | General
Photo Gallery | VIDEO: St. John's Athletics End of the Year Highlight Video | VIDEO: Athletic Awards Banquet Recap
QUEENS, N.Y. - On Monday night, the St. John's Athletic Department hosted its annual awards banquet in Carnesecca Arena, celebrating the upcoming completion of another successful academic year for the Red Storm.
The evening began with mass led by Campus Minister for Athletics, Fr. Richard Rock C. M. at St. Thomas Moore Church. Following the mass, Director of Athletics Anton Goff kicked off the awards celebration with introductory remarks, addressing the crowd of student-athletes and recognizing the many special guests in attendance. Among those he mentioned was Athletics Director Emeritus John W. Kaiser, who has been present at all 71 St. John's Athletic Awards Banquets so far. After Goff, Conrado "Bobby" Gempesaw, Ph.D., President, St. John's University, took to the stage and addressed the audience, stressing the vital role that student-athletes play in the University community.
Next, student-athletes Grace Kramer of the softball team, Dante Addona of the men's lacrosse team and Sandra Udobi of the women's basketball team combined to delivered a speech on the St. John's motto of "Win. Graduate. Serve." and what that has meant to them over their careers as St. John's student-athletes.
Following dinner, Co-Masters of Ceremony Associate Vice President for Athletics Kathleen Meehan and Associate Provost for Academic Support Services Dr. Nancy Kaplan introduced the winners of various team MVP and special recognition awards.
Listed below are the night's award winners:
Team Awards
Christian L. Thomsen Memorial Award: Shamorie Ponds, Men's Basketball
Victoria Porter MVP Award: Aaliyah Lewis, Women's Basketball
John T. "Doc" Gimmler Golf MVP Award: Gerald Mackedon, Men's Golf
Women's Golf MVP Award: Kaitleen Shee, Women's Golf
George Santelli Award: Andras Nemeth, Men's Fencing
Women's Fencing MVP Award: Mathilda Taharo, Women's Fencing
George Seewagen Memorial Award: Alan Nunez Aguilera, Men's Tennis
Connie Kaiser Memorial Award: Anna Morozova, Women's Tennis
Kenneth F. Perrone Memorial Award: Simon Tchoukriel, Men's Soccer
Marianne Viscovich-Powderly Memorial Award: Anna Maria Baldursdottir, Women's Soccer
Indoor Track and Field MVP Award: Adriana Wright, Indoor Track and Field
Outdoor Track and Field MVP Award: TBA
Susan Kearns Memorial Award: Antonia Howard, Cross Country
Dr. Margaret Mary Fitzpatrick, S.C. Award: Gaia Traballi, Women's Volleyball
Francis A. McCall Memorial Award: Daniel Costa, Men's Lacrosse
Softball MVP Award: TBA
Lawrence R. Thomsen Memorial Award: Federico Mussini, Men's Basketball
Marianne Noonan Memorial Award: Aaliyah Lewis, Women's Basketball
The Excalibur Award: Ben Natanzon, Men's Fencing
Joseph J. Calcagno Award: Veronika Zuikova, Women's Fencing
Kathleen Murphy Meehan Award: Raya O'Neal, Women's Volleyaball
John Holohan Spirit and Dedication Award: Marian Sato, Pep Band
Dance Team Spirit and Dedication Award: Rebecca Cohan, Dance Team
Cheerleading Team Spirit and Dedication Award: Emily Valentino, Cheerleading Team
Special Recognition Awards
John DaSilva Memorial Award: Amanda Sanabia, Women's Volleyball
Dr. Peter Vitulli Award: Andrea Previati, Men's Soccer
James Kevin Beatty Memorial Award: Chris Maida, Softball
Herbert V. Hess Award: Ed Blankmeyer, Baseball
Walter T. McLaughlin Award: Rino Grzinic
Rickard F. McSwiney Award: Ferenc Valkai, Men's Fencing
Rickard F. McSwiney Award: Alexis Urbanski, Women's Soccer
John W. Kaiser Award: Diana Poulin, Women's Soccer
Frank C. Haggerty Memorial Award: Michael Donadio, Baseball
Community Service Award
Cross Country and Track and Field
Dr. Michael Pisano Memorial Awards
Troy Dixon, Baseball
Michael Donadio, Baseball
John Valente, Baseball
Deniz Berkay, Men's Fencing
Giuseppe Truglio, Men's Golf
Dante Addona, Men's Lacrosse
Brian Gaffney, Men's Lacrosse
Kyle Skramko, Men's Lacrosse
Eric Mirkov, Men's Soccer
Sarah Chaides, Women's Soccer
Brittany Garcia, Softball
Alyssa Rusch, Softball
Kaitlyn Wilkens, Softball
Anna Morozova, Women's Tennis
Hope Demel, Women's Volleyball
Mona Karkkainen, Women's Volleyball
Nikki Sen, Women's Volleyball
Elizabeth Lapchick Award
Yevgeniy Karyuchenko, Men's Fencing
Arnelle Thomas, Track and Field
Players Mentioned
