UB Hands Out Awards At Annual Banquet

Cerminara and Fletcher named Athletes of Year; men's cross country earns AD Award

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo held its annual Athletic Awards Banquet on Sunday night at Samuel's Grande Manor in Clarence and head track and field and cross country coach Dick Barry was the common theme of the evening.

Barry, who will retire at the conclusion of the spring track and field season, was honored for his 17 years of service to UB, which has included 13 conference titles, five Conference Coach of the Year honors and 10 All-Americans. He also saw his men's cross country team earn the Athletic Director's Award for their performance during the 2001-02 season, while senior thrower Sarah Fletcher (Crystal Beach, Ontario/Ridgeway) earned the Female Athlete of the Year award as part of the women's

Sarah Fletcher and Kyle Cerminara

track and field team. Freshman wrestler Kyle Cerminara (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) earned the Male Athlete of the Year award after going unbeaten in the Mid-American Conference and earning a berth to the NCAA Division I Championships in his first season of collegiate competition.

"The person who should be receiving this award (the Athletic Director's Award) is not here tonight, and that is my assistant Vicki Mitchell, who works with this team every day. But I'll take it, since this is my last go-round at these banquets," said Barry with a laugh.

The men's cross country team jumped from 10th place in the MAC in 2000 to a fifth-place finish this past fall. Junior Jerimie Slick (Greece, NY/Greece-Olympia) earned first-team All-MAC honors and went on to qualify for the Division I National Championships, the first UB cross country athlete to do so in over 30 years. In addition, teammate Todd Ludden (Hornell, NY/Hornell) earned second-team All-MAC honors. The team would also go on to finish in 12th place of 36 teams at the Northeast Regionals in Boston, where Slick would place eighth and earn his invitational to the national championship.

Fletcher, meanwhile, may still have the best to come as she completes her senior season. Already a three-time Mid-American Conference champion (two indoor 20-pound weight throw titles and the 2000 outdoor hammer title), she just last week broke the Mid-American Conference and UB all-time record in the hammer with a distance of 187-10 at the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia, finishing second. That mark provisionally qualifies her for the NCAA Division I Championships at LSU at the end of May, with the Mid-American Conference Championships still to come May 9-11th.

This season, Fletcher has broken the discus and hammer records at UB and led Buffalo to the women's championship at the nine-team McDonald's Invitational at Ohio University. The other two finalists for the Female Athlete of the Year were freshman swimmer Jennefer Brankovsky (Toronto, Ontario/Don Mills) - who set seven school records in her first season - and Breanne Nasti (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) of softball, who currently ranks among the Top 25 in the nation in batting average after earning Mid-East Region second-team honors as a freshman last year.

Cerminara, meanwhile, became the first person to earn Athlete of the Year honors in their first year at UB since women's swimmer Inger Rooneem (1997-98). Cerminara earned the recognition after a 26-13 regular season in which he captured the 197-pound title at the MAC Championships as the No. 1 seed after sweeping all five of his conference matches in the regular season. He becomes the second straight wrestler to earn the award after heavyweight John Eschenfelder took home the trophy last year.

At the NCAA Championships in Albany, Cerminara went 1-2 and nearly went the distance with Iowa State's Cael Sanderson, the only wrestler in NCAA history to go unbeaten for four seasons. Cerminara topped football's Joe Freedy (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) ­ who finished among the top three in career marks for completions, yards and touchdowns ­ and cross country and track and field standout Eric Czubaj (Buffalo, NY/John F. Kennedy), a three-year captain who is the school record holder in the 1,500 and as part of the distance medley relay team.

Other major award winners included:

CLIFFORD C. FURNAS POST-GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP
Carrie Quinlan (Amherst, NY/North Tonawanda), swimming

INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS BOARD (IAB) STUDENT-ATHLETE LEADERS
Male (tie)
Gabe Cagwin (Seattle, WA/Belfair), basketball; Joe Freedy (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park), football
Female
Larissa LaCour (West Islip, NY/West Islip), volleyball

UNSUNG HERO AWARD
Rebecca Ashare (Coram, NY/Longwood), volleyball

BLUE AND WHITE CLUB COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD
Larissa LaCour (West Islip, NY/West Islip), volleyball

ATHLETES FOR ATHLETES ATTENDANCE AWARD
Women's swimming - captains Gigi Tapia (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville North) and
Carrie Quinlan (Amherst, NY/North Tonawanda)

The sport-by-sport award winners:

Men's Cross Country
Head coach: Dick Barry
· Top Newcomer: Steve Strelick
· Most Improved: Eric Czubaj
· Coaches Award: Jerimie Slick
· MVP: Todd Ludden

Women's Cross Country
Head coach: Dick Barry
· Top Newcomer: Jenny Koeppel
· Most Improved: Jessica Moldovan
· Coaches Award: Hollie Rhodes
· MVP: Melissa Burrows

Football
Head coach: Jim Hofher
· Top Newcomer: J.J. Gibson
· Most Improved: Chad Bartoszek
· Coaches Award: Joe Freedy
· MVP: Chris Shelly
Dominic Grossi Award: Tim Hedges

Women's Soccer
Head coach: Jean-A. Tassy
· Top Newcomer: Brenna McJury
· Most Improved: Paula Sinclair
· Coaches Award: Robin Aparo
· MVP: Devon Russell

Men's Soccer
Head coach: John Astudillo
· Top Newcomer: Dave Pidgeon
· Most Improved: Dan Wielechowski
· Coaches Award: Mike Peplinski
· MVP: Kevin Pitra

Women's Volleyball
Head coach: Sally Kus
· Top Newcomer: Katie Henry
· Most Improved: Becky Ashare
· Coaches Award: Alexis Bouie
· MVP: Lindsay Matikosh

Women's Basketball
Head coach: Cheryl Dozier
· Top Newcomer: Allison Bennett
· Most Improved: Rachel Martin
· Coaches Award: Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe
· MVP: Jessica Kochendorfer

Men's Basketball
Head coach: Reggie Witherspoon
· Top Newcomer: Turner Battle
· Most Improved: Kevin Swoffer
· Coaches Award: Clement Smith
· MVP: Darcel Williams

Women's Indoor Track and Field
Head coach: Dick Barry
· Top Newcomer: Charisse Everett
· Most Improved: Faith Thompson
· Coaches Award: Laura Olson
· MVP: Christina Keck

Men's Indoor Track and Field
Head coach: Dick Barry
· Top Newcomer: Pete Zaccariello
· Most Improved: Steve Esler
· Coaches Award: Joe Loiacono
· MVP: Joe Clark

Women's Swimming
Head coach: Dorsi Raynolds
· Top Newcomer: Tracy Hoover
· Most Improved: Bethany Miller
· Coaches Award: Katrina Sinclair
· MVP: Jennefer Brankovsky

Men's Swimming
Head coach: Budd Termin
· Top Newcomer: Aviv Oren
· Most Improved: Jon Yarger
· Coaches Award: Alan Lowe
· MVP: Aviv Oren

Wrestling
Head coach: Jim Beichner
· Top Newcomer: Kyle Cerminara
· Most Improved: Garrett Bontempo
· Coaches Award: Ben Cooper
· The Bob Rich Outstanding Wrestler Award: Kyle Cerminara

Baseball
Head coach: Bill Breene
· Top Newcomer: Phil VanHorne
· Most Improved: Adrian Daniels
· Coaches Award: Tim Sova
· MVP: Brandon DiCesare

Women's Crew
Head coach: Meg Barnes
· Top Newcomer: Kali Spoto
· Most Improved: Michelle Schwach
· Coaches Award: Karey Smollar
· MVP: Sarah Viera

Softball
Head coach: Marie Curran
· Top Newcomer: Stacey Evans
· Most Improved: Ann-Marie Magur
· Coaches Award: Melissa Pace
· MVP: Breanna Nasti

Men's Tennis
Head coach: Russ Crispell
· Top Newcomer: Nick Zieziula
· Most Improved: Randy Rocchio
· Coaches Award: Justin Brtko
· MVP: Fery Kasiman

Women's Tennis
Head coach: Kathy Twist
· Top Newcomer: Michelle Kollarova
· Most Improved: Jen Wong
· Coaches Award: Shani Amarasinghe
· MVP: Karen Maynard

Men's Outdoor Track and Field
Head coach: Dick Barry
· Top Newcomer: Bryan Weinstein
· Most Improved: Tom Abbey
· Coaches Award: Ben Cady
· MVP: Byron McKinney

Women's Outdoor Track and Field
Head coach: Russ Crispell
· Top Newcomer: April Pabilonia
· Most Improved: Meagan Rogers
· Coaches Award: Alison Laske
· MVP: Sarah Fletcher

Cheerleading
Head coach: Amy Zabawa and Justin Bridenbaker
· Top Newcomer: Bryan Aweh
· Most Improved: Kara Teske
· Coaches Award: Candace Faubert
· MVP: Nick Greiner

04/29/2002