UB Honors Award Winners at Annual Athletic Banquet

Steve Esler and Jennefer Brankovsky named Athletes of the Year; Women's Basketball Earns Athletic Director's Team Award

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo held its annual Athletic Awards Banquet on Tuesday night at Samuel's Grande Manor in Clarence, and junior track and field athlete Steve Esler (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute) and sophomore swimmer Jennefer Brankovsky (Toronto, Ontario/Don Mills) were the stars of the night, walking away with UB's Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards.

Jennefer Brankovsky and Steve Esler

Esler had an outstanding indoor track season, setting school records in both the pentathlon (3,933 points at the Cornell Five-Way meet) and the heptathlon (5,251 points at the MAC Championship meet). His point total in the heptathlon earned him the MAC Championship title, the first of his career, and first-team All-MAC honors, and his point total in the pentathlon ranked in the top five in the nation and qualified him for the USATF Indoor National Championships in Boston. Esler also placed 11th in an 18-person field at the 2003 USA Combined Indoor Events Championships at the University of North Carolina in March, scoring better than defending champion Tom Pappas, ranked number one in the United States and number two in the world in the decathlon in 2002 by Track & Field News. Esler also outscored 2000 Olympic decathlete Kip Janvrin, who finished 12th.

Brankovsky was the Mid-American Conference Swimmer of the Year and an All-MAC First Team honoree following the league meet during which she set three UB school records and won two individual titles. Brankovsky won the 200 individual medley in a UB and MAC record time of 2:01.91, out-touching defending league champion Trisha Kessler of Ohio by a tenth of a second, and she won the 200 breaststroke in a school-record time of 2:17.98. Brankovsky also broke the school record in the 100 butterfly in 55.38 during the preliminary heats and later finished third in the championship final. All three of her school record times were also NCAA "B" cut times.

Earning the Athletic Director's Award for its performance during the 2002-03 season was the UB women's basketball team, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Cheryl Dozier. The Bulls doubled their win total with a nine-win improvement over last season, going 18-11 overall and 9-7 in the Mid-American Conference compared to 9-19 overall and 4-12 in the MAC in 2001-02. The Bulls won six straight games down the stretch to finish third in the East Division and tied for sixth overall in the MAC after being picked to finish fifth in the East and 10th overall in the preseason poll. They advanced to the MAC Tournament quarterfinals for the first time in three years and ranked nationally in two offensive categories in the final NCAA Division I statistics report - 19th in assists per game (17.1) and 25th in field goal percentage (45.3).

Also as part of the special award presentations, Sam Sanders, a former athlete and football coach at the University at Buffalo, was recognized for his lifelong commitment to athletic achievement and coaching excellence. Sanders excelled on the gridiron at UB before being recruited to the Buffalo Bills. A knee injury ended his career with the Bills but launched a distinguished 30-year collegiate and professional coaching career. During that time, Sanders initiated changes that helped UB soar from NCAA Division II to Division I play. He is a member of UB's Athletic Hall of Fame and continues to be a loyal and devoted supporter of UB athletics.

Other major award winners included:

CLIFFORD C. FURNAS POST-GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP
Senior Rebecca Ashare (Coram, NY/Longwood) of the volleyball team received the prestigious Clifford C. Furnas Post-graduate Scholarship. The Furnas Award is provided through annual interest earnings from the C.C. Furnas Fund in the University at Buffalo Foundation, Inc. and recognizes outstanding undergraduate performance in scholarship and athletic prowess. The recipient must have a minimum 3.5 GPA and be committed to graduate study, have strong personal character and outstanding athletic accomplishments. Ashare, a perfect 4.0 student with plans to begin pursuing a master's degree in clinical psychology, is also this year's winner of the Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Academics. She will be recognized with that award at UB's general graduation in May.

INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS BOARD (IAB) STUDENT-ATHLETE LEADERS
The recipients of the IAB Student-Athlete Leader awards were Clement Smith (Brooklyn, NY/Westinghouse) of the men's basketball team and Jenelle Callender (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn Tech) of the track and field team. This award is given by the Intercollegiate Athletics Board to honor a senior male and female athlete who have demonstrated leadership beyond their own teams to the Division and/or the campus, and whose character, actions, excellence and concern for other student-athletes make them strong ambassadors for the Division of Athletics and the University at Buffalo.

UNSUNG HERO AWARD
Freshman Lisa Wheat (Olympia, WA/Tumwater) of the softball team is this year's winner of the Unsung Hero Award, as selected by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) to recognize an individual who makes a significant contribution on the court, field or in the pool and is recognized for his or her dedication, unselfishness and contribution to the team. Wheat returned to UB this fall following a serious car accident on December 26, 2001, after which she spent four weeks in the hospital and had five operations. She was cleared to play softball on December 23, 2002, three days before the one-year anniversary of her accident, overcoming her doctors' initial prognosis that she could start to walk in a year and a half.

The members of SAAC also announced that the Unsung Hero Award will be called the Christine Dickerson Unsung Hero Award from this point on, in honor of Christine Dickerson (Williamsville, NY/Nardin Academy), a freshman on UB's crew team this past fall who died tragically in a car accident in Ellicottville on December 11, 2002. Dickerson was a walk-on to the UB crew team who had planned to study to become a biomedical engineer.

BLUE & WHITE CLUB COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD
Senior Jessica Kensy (Cheektowaga, NY/Maryvale) of the softball team received the Blue & White Club Student-Athlete Excellence in Community Service Award, which honors a senior student-athlete who has demonstrated a commitment to serving the Western New York Community, as well as excelling in the classroom, while devoting himself or herself to the success of his or her team. Kensy served as UB's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's Community Outreach Officer in 2002-03 while also proving to be a vital member of the UB softball team.

ATHLETES-FOR-ATHLETES ATTENDANCE AWARD
The men's tennis team, captained by Fery Kasiman (Jakarta, Indonesia/ESI International Academy) and Nick Zieziula (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis), earned the Athletes-for-Athletes (AFA) Attendance Award. Each of UB's varsity sports designates one of its regular-season home contests to be an AFA event, and the men's tennis team earned the AFA Attendance Award by having the best attendance at all of those AFA events throughout the school year.

The sport-by-sport award winners were:

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Head coach: Vicki Mitchell
Top Newcomer: Brian Smith
Most Improved: Joel Beatty
Coaches Award: Todd Ludden
MVP: Jerimie Slick

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Head coach: Vicki Mitchell
Top Newcomer: Kate Kohout
Most Improved: Jenny Koeppel
Coaches Award: Christina Keck
MVP: Melissa Burrows

FOOTBALL
Head coach: Jim Hofher
Top Newcomer: Aaron Leeper
Most Improved: Dan Lindsay
Coaches Award: Scott McMahan
MVP: Andre Forde
Dominic Grossi Award: Jeff Mills

WOMEN'S SOCCER
Head coach: Jean-A. Tassy
Top Newcomer: Natalia Crofut
Most Improved: Meaghan Maul
Coaches Award: Brenna McJury
MVP: Elizabeth Pfeffer

MEN'S SOCCER
Head coach: John Astudillo
Top Newcomer: Cheick Diarra
Most Improved: Jason Seymour
Coaches Award: Brian Wozniak
MVP: Mike Peplinski

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Head coach: Sally Kus
Top Newcomer: Katie Weekley
Most Improved: Katie Henry
Coaches Award: Molly Schrantz
MVP: Lindsay Matikosh

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Head coach: Cheryl Dozier
Top Newcomer: Hollie Cook
Most Improved: Allison Bennett
Coaches Award: Talia Merlino
MVP: Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Head coach: Reggie Witherspoon
Top Newcomer: B.J. Walker
Most Improved: Jason Bird
Coaches Award: Steve McDonnell
MVP: Turner Battle

WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Head coach: Vicki Mitchell
Top Newcomer: Krystal Seiling
Most Improved: Christina Keck
Coaches Award: Jenelle Callender
MVP: Biaunca McFarland

MEN'S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Head coach: Perry Jenkins
Top Newcomer: Carlos Williams
Most Improved: Onile White
Coaches Award: Byron McKinney
MVP: Steve Esler

WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
Head coach: Dorsi Raynolds
Top Newcomer: Ashlee Burton
Most Improved: Jennifer Raimondi
Coaches Award: Lisa Boettrich
MVP: Jennefer Brankovsky

MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
Head coach: Budd Termin
Top Newcomer: Patrick Lee
Most Improved: Jon Yarger
Coaches Award: Jim Taravella
MVP: Aviv Oren

WRESTLING
Head coach: Jim Beichner
Top Newcomer: Mike Sebaaly
Most Improved: Tom Paladino
Coaches Award: Ryan Bentley
The Bob Rich Outstanding Wrestler Award: Gary Cooper

BASEBALL
Head coach: Bill Breene
Top Newcomer: James Kingsley
Most Improved: Nick Bellacose
Coaches Award: Kyle Swiatocha
MVP: Joe Mihalics

WOMEN'S CREW
Head coach: Meg Barnes
Top Newcomer: Dawn Kavanaugh
Most Improved: Jessica Ecke
Coaches Award: Victoria Kolomiets
MVP: Deanna Knighton

SOFTBALL
Head coach: Marie Curran
Top Newcomer: Lauren Picciano
Most Improved: Marce Ross
Coaches Award: Breanne Nasti
MVP: Stacey Evans

MEN'S TENNIS
Head coach: Russ Crispell
Top Newcomer: Rangga Prayudha
Most Improved: Josh Liederman
Coaches Award: Nick Zieziula
MVP: Fery Kasiman

WOMEN'S TENNIS
Head coach: Kathy Twist
Top Newcomer: Lisa Wittman
Most Improved: Michelle Kollarova
Coaches Award: Karen Maynard
MVP: Kristen Ortman

MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Head coach: Perry Jenkins
Top Newcomer: Todd Joki
Most Improved: Dan Simpson
Coaches Award: Gary Asbach
MVP: Keith Gentes

WOMEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Head coach: Vicki Mitchell
Top Newcomer: Sarah Vance
Most Improved: Allison Laske
Coaches Award: Faith Thompson
MVP: Laura Olson

CHEERLEADING
Head coach: Amy Zabawa and Justin Bridenbaker
Top Newcomer: Michele Zaninovich
Most Improved: Bryan Aweh
Coaches Award: Michelle Kottas
MVP: Lindsay Sutton

04/29/2003