In its 67th year, Binghamton University’s annual Varsity Athletics Awards Banquet brought together all of the school’s student-athletes to honor their achievements and celebrate the success of their 2013-14 seasons.
The banquet, held at the Events Center on Thursday night, recognized selected student-athletes in areas of community service, academic achievement, athletic excellence and individual perseverance.
The ceremony also included mention of the 76 seniors across all varsity sports, capped by speeches from softball second baseman Jessica Bump and cross country runner Jeff Martinez.
Saving the grandest for last, the event concluded with the Athlete of the Year awards. Junior freestyle swimmer Caitlin Kelly earned BU’s Female Athlete of the Year honors. She broke four program records this season on her way to the conference championship in both the 50- and 100-meter free events. Junior midfielder Tucker Nelson, who broke the single-season school record for assists this year in lacrosse, and junior middle distance runner Jesse Garn, the 2013-14 Most Outstanding Track Athlete at the America East Indoor Championship, shared the award on the men’s side.
Additional career achievement awards were earned by four seniors: Matt Springer, who netted a program-record 126 goals in his career as an attack with the men’s lacrosse team; Grace Vickers, a two-time America East first-team all-conference selection who ranks highly in the volleyball program’s all-time kills, hitting percentage and blocks categories; Cody Reed, a three-time NCAA qualifier wrestling at 197 pounds; and Bump, the program record-holder for steals and a two-time America East All-Academic selection. Springer was the winner of the Jake Pitler Award while Bump and Reed took home the John Bilos Awards. Vickers was the winner of the Jessie A. Godfrey Award.
Men’s soccer midfielder Ben Nicholson, who holds a 4.0 GPA with majors in English and philosophy, and track sprinter Kathleen Klein, who owns a 3.86 GPA with a major in studio art, boasted the top grade point averages of the athletes, earning them the top academic awards.