2023 Stonehill Athletics St. Thomas Aquinas Medalists with Senior Associate Director of Athletics Cindy MacDonald, who is retiring in May after 33 years of service to the College and has organized the annual Academic Excellence Breakfast since its inception 20 years ago. FRONT ROW SEATED (l-r): Marissa Such (women's tennis), Margaret Gallagher (women's cross country), Kaytlin Encarnacao (women's track & field), Kelly Morrissey (equestrian), Molly Adamo (softball), Julia Dapron (women's golf), Jentry Allen (volleyball). BACK ROW STANDING (l-r): Cindy MacDonald (senior associate director of athletics), Hannah Guidi (women's soccer), Nathan McGill (men's basketball), Erin Heffernan (field hockey), Lydia Rudden (women's lacrosse), Aidan Byrne (men's cross country and track & field), Richard Hall (men's ice hockey), Sydney Stockwell (women's swimming), Sophie Glidden (women's basketball), Ben Simmons (men's tennis), Sam Murphy (football). UNABLE TO ATTEND: Ryan Coutu (men's soccer), Billy Duff (baseball) and David Satkowski (football). PHOTO BY Jim Pierce |
20 student-athletes receive Saint Thomas Aquinas Medals
Yu receives Outstanding Faculty Member Award
Stonehill SAAC Co-Chair Reilly Johnston presents Dr. Xuejian Yu with the Outstanding Faculty Award. Dr. Yu is the first faculty member to receive the honor twice. (PHOTO BY Jim Pierce) |
EASTON, Mass. (April 14, 2023) – Stonehill College held its annual Academic Excellence Recognition Breakfast at the Sally Blair Ames Sports Complex this morning. It marks the signature event for the College in recognition of National Student-Athlete Day on April 6 as administrators, faculty and athletic staff presented St. Thomas Aquinas medals as well as its Outstanding Faculty Member Award from the College's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
The event honors student-athletes from Stonehill's 23 varsity programs who have the highest cumulative grade point average on their respective teams through the fall 2022 semester. Those students are presented with St. Thomas Aquinas, Patron Saint of Students, Medals. Of the 20 medal recipients this morning, eight are repeat honorees, including seniors Lydia Rudden, an All-American on the women's lacrosse program, and Billy Duff from the baseball program as three-time medalists.
Seniors Molly Adamo from the softball program, Sophie Glidden of women's basketball and Ben Simmons from men's tennis, along with juniors Aidan Byrne from the men's cross country and track & field programs, Ryan Coutu of the men's soccer program and Sydney Stockwell from the women's swimming program all received medals for the second time over their careers.
Stonehill Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Co-Chair Reilly Johnston presented the athletic department's Outstanding Faculty Member Award to Dr. Xuejian Yu, Professor of Communication, who is the first to ever receive the recognition twice, having earned the award from SAAC in 2016 as well. Professor Yu has taught various communication courses over his 31 years at Stonehill, such as Organizational Communication, Intercultural Communication, Communication Research Methods, Interpersonal Communication, and Public Speaking.
Earning St. Thomas Aquinas Medals were:
Molly Adamo (Seymour, Connecticut/Seymour), Senior, Softball**
Jentry Allen (Lucas, Texas/Lovejoy), Junior, Volleyball
Aidan Byrne (Danbury, Connecticut/Danbury), Junior, Men's Cross Country/Track & Field**
Ryan Coutu (Brookline, New Hampshire/Hollis Brookline), Junior, Men's Soccer**
Julia Dapron (Dorset, Vermont/Burr & Burton Academy), Senior, Women's Golf
Billy Duff (Garden City, New York/Garden City), Senior, Baseball***
Kaytlin Encarnacao (Reading, Massachusetts/Reading Memorial), Junior, Women's Track & Field
Margaret Gallagher (Lakeville, Massachusetts/Apponequet Regional), Sophomore, Women's Cross Country)
Sophie Glidden (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough), Fifth-Year, Women's Basketball**
Hannah Guidi (Albany, New York/Shaker), Senior, Women's Soccer
Richard Hall (Shelburne, Vermont/Stanstead College), Senior, Men's Ice Hockey
Erin Heffernan (Wakefield, Massachusetts/Wakefield Memorial), Junior, Field Hockey
Nathan McGill (Dillsburg, Pennsylvania/Northern), Sophomore, Men's Basketball
Kelly Morrissey (Pembroke, Massachusetts/Pembroke), Junior, Equestrian
Sam Murphy (Lockport, New York/St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute), Junior, Football
Lydia Rudden (Hopkinton, Massachusetts/Hopkinton), Senior, Women's Lacrosse***
David Satkowski (Southbury, Connecticut/Pomperaug), Senior, Football
Ben Simmons (North Attleboro, Massachusetts/Bishop Feehan), Senior, Men's Tennis**
Sydney Stockwell (Hopkinton, New Hampshire/Hopkinton), Junior, Women's Swimming**
Marissa Such (Cranston, Rhode Island/Cranston West), Sophomore, Women's Tennis
Number of years honored marked with asterisks
Among Stonehill's 543 student-athletes, 18 earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the Fall 2022 semester. 40-percent (218) were named to the College's Dean's List for having a GPA of 3.50 or above and 55-percent (300) were named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (3.20+). Stonehill, competing in the Northeast Conference at the NCAA Division I level for the first time, had 98 student-athletes from the fall season named to the NEC Academic Honor Roll (3.20+ cumulative GPA), with 23 earning NEC Commissioner's Honor Roll status (3.75+).
Stonehill currently offers 23 varsity intercollegiate athletic programs currently in transition to NCAA Division I status as members of the Northeast Conference, while women's ice hockey is in its inaugural season as a member of the New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA). Stonehill accepted an invitation to the Northeast Conference (NEC) last April, after 42 years as a charter member of the Northeast-10 Conference, winning the NE10 Presidents' Cup six times and finishing in the top three in the final standings 15 of the last 17 years. Stonehill is one of just ten institutions nationwide to receive the NCAA Presidents' Award for Academic Achievement, recognizing athletic departments with an Academic Success rating of 90-percent or better, each of the first ten years of the program's existence.
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