UB Honors Award Winners at Annual Athletic Awards Banquet

Mark Budd and Sarah Vance named Student-Athletes of the Year; Women’s Tennis Earns Athletic Director’s Team Award

Sarah Vance and Mark Budd

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo held its annual Athletic Awards Banquet on Tuesday night at The Millennium Hotel, and senior wrestler Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville) and Sarah Vance (Lockport, NY/Lockport), a track and field athlete, were the stars of the night, walking away with UB’s Male and Female Student-Athlete of the Year awards.

Budd became the fourth wrestler in UB history to win 100 or more matches. He ranked as high as eighth in the nation at 133 lbs. and had the most wins in the country at his weight class in 2007. A MAC champion and NYS Collegiate champion, Budd finished with a 36-6 record in 2007. He went undefeated in dual meets in 2007 and his 16-0 record gave him the second best all-time single season dual meet win percentage in school history. Budd became the only UB wrestler to ever beat a number one ranked wrestler in the country.

Vance, a thrower on the women’s track and field team, was an NCAA qualifier in the shot put and placed 15th in the nation. She is a two-time MAC champion in the shot put and runner-up in the 20-pound weight throw. She set the school record in the shot put and discus throw. A two-time MAC athlete of the week, Vance was a three-time event qualifier for the NCAA Outdoor Regional Championships in the shot put, hammer throw and discus.

The UB women’s tennis team earned the Athletic Director’s Team Award. Under the direction of 11th-year head coach Kathy Twist, the Bulls advanced to the MAC Championship match for the second year in a row before falling to national-ranked Western Michigan. Women’s tennis became the first sport at UB to reach the conference championship contest more than once. They set the school record with 17 wins and finished the 2007 season with a 17-3 overall record.

Other major award winners included:

CLIFFORD C. FURNAS POST-GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP
Senior Daniel Bell (Brampton, Ontario/Notre Dame) of the men’s soccer 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.

IDEAL BULL DISTINGUISHED STUDENT-ATHLETE LEADERSHIP AWARD
The recipients of the Ideal Bull Distinguished Student-Athlete Leadership Award were Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) of the women’s tennis team and Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) of the men’s tennis team. This award is given by the Intercollegiate Athletics Board to honor senior athletes 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.

CHRISY DICKERSON UNSUNG HERO AWARD
Senior Chris McClure (Trumansburg, NY/Charles O. Dickerson) of the men’s cross country team is this year’s winner of the Chrisy Dickerson 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. The award is named in honor of Christine Dickerson (Williamsville, NY/Nardin Academy), a member of UB’s crew team who died tragically in a car accident in Ellicottville on December 11, 2002.

BLUE & WHITE CLUB COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD Senior Jessica Roesch (Centennial, CO/Grandview) of the women’s soccer 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.

The sport-by-sport award winners were:

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Head coach: Vicki Mitchell
Top Newcomer: Jason Ayr
Most Improved: Paul Riley
Coaches’ Award: Chris McClure
Most Outstanding: Andy Leonard

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Head coach: Vicki Mitchell
Top Newcomer: Karen Corey
Most Improved: Jessica Schultz
Coaches’ Award: Kate Kohout
Most Outstanding: Mary Veith

FOOTBALL
Head coach: Turner Gill
Top Newcomer: Naaman Roosevelt
Most Improved: Chad Upshaw
Coaches’ Award: Steven King
Most Outstanding: Jeff Bublavi
Dominic Grossi Award: Jamey Richard

WOMEN’S SOCCER
Head coach: Jean-A. Tassy
Top Newcomer: Caitlin Higgins
Most Improved: Ashley Turner
Coaches’ Award: Andrea Vescio
Most Outstanding: Brooke McCalla
MEN’S SOCCER
Head coach: John Astudillo
Top Newcomer: Dan Stevens
Most Improved: Dan Gwyther
Coaches’ Award: Daniel Bell
Most Outstanding: Andrae Clarke

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Head coach: Jim Lodes
Top Newcomer: Lauren Fensten
Most Improved: Maria Mezzadri
Coaches’ Award: Kate Love
Most Outstanding: Lizaiha Garcia

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Head coach: Linda Hill-MacDonald
Top Newcomer: Kourtney Brown
Most Improved: Ashley Zuber
Coaches’ Award: Rachelle Matthys
Most Outstanding: Heather Turner

MEN’S BASKETBALL
Head coach: Reggie Witherspoon
Top Newcomer: Byron Mulkey
Most Improved: Andrew Atman
Coaches’ Award: Darwin Young
Most Outstanding: Yassin Idbihi

WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Head coach: Vicki Mitchell
Top Newcomer: Octavia Johnston
Most Improved: Fatimah Hill
Coaches’ Award: Tina Villa
Most Outstanding: Sarah Vance

MEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Head coach: Perry Jenkins
Top Newcomer: Ezekiel Porter
Most Improved: Jake Madonia
Coaches’ Award: Eugene Kennedy
Most Outstanding: Reggie Rucker

WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
Head Coach: Andy Bashor
Top Newcomer: Meili Carpenter
Most Improved: Ashley Shaffert
Coaches’ Award: Jennifer Skerker
Most Outstanding: Meili Carpenter

MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
Head coach: Andy Bashor
Top Newcomer: Michael McDowell
Most Improved: Andrew Tamchyna
Coaches’ Award: Luke Adams
Most Outstanding: Zach Ruske
WRESTLING
Head coach: Jim Beichner
Top Newcomer: Ricky Scott
Most Improved: Ray Lamb
Coaches’ Award: Jake Blowers
Most Outstanding: Mark Budd

BASEBALL
Head coach: Ron Torgalski
Awards will be announced at the conclusion of the 2007 season.

ROWING
Head coach: Rudy Wieler
Top Newcomer: Tara Rudkoski
Most Improved: Brittany Aiello
Coaches’ Award: Katie Barnum
Most Outstanding: Lauren Sexton

SOFTBALL
Head coach: Marie Curran
Awards will be announced at the conclusion of the 2007 season.

MEN’S TENNIS
Head coach: Sherif Zaher
Top Newcomer: Kirill Kolomytes
Most Improved: Eric Rothstein
Coaches’ Award: Mike Rockman
Most Outstanding: Nikesh Singh Panthlia

WOMEN’S TENNIS
Head coach: Kathy Twist
Top Newcomer: Denise Harijanto
Most Improved: Natalie Dean
Coaches’ Award: Katrin Fischer
Most Outstanding: Miglena Nenova

MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Head coach: Perry Jenkins
Awards will be announced at the conclusion of the 2007 season.

WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Head coach: Vicki Mitchell
Awards will be announced at the conclusion of the 2007 season.

2007 Women's Tennis Team

05/02/2007