Athletes of the Week: April 24-30, 2017
The remainder of the spring tournaments are right around the corner as E8 athletes closed out the regular season in fashion with top notch performances. Those earning weekly honors for the week of April 24-30, 2017 include...
Baseball Player – St. John Fisher
Malcolm Kelsey, Senior, OF – Piscataway, NJ/Rutgers Prep
Malcolm Kelsey of the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College baseball team came up with 10 hits as the No. 15 Cardinals went 4-1 on the week with four wins in Empire 8 play. In four starts, Kelsey combined to go 10-for-19 (.526)at the dish with two doubles and three home runs. Overall, the senior drove in 10 runs and scored five of his own while slugging 1.105 on the week. Against Elmira, 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored before batting a perfect 4-for-4 with a double, a home run, four RBI and two runs scored in the opening game of a doubleheader at Stevens. Kelsey continued to hit the ball in the night cap as he went 2-for-6 before closing out the series with two hits including a double and a home run along with three more RBI in the series finale.
Baseball Pitcher – St. John Fisher
Anthony Brophy, Freshman – North Tonawanda, NY/St. Joseph’s
Anthony Brophy picked up his eighth win of the season last week as the freshman hurled seven scoreless innings in a win over Stevens. Brophy allowed just five hits and struck out a career-high 14 batters in the win.
Softball Player – St. John Fisher
Ashley Prince, Sophomore, OF – Passadena, MD/Northeast
Ashley Prince combined to go 12-for-19 (.632) with 10 RBI and seven runs scored. She also boomed four extra base hits including a three-run home run. Against Rochester on Tuesday, Prince collected five hits before going 5-for-6 with six RBI against Brockport. The sophomore outfielder closed out the week with two more hits and three more RBI in a sweep of Utica.
Softball Pitcher – St. John Fisher
Lindsey Thayer, Junior – Winthrop, NY/St. Lawrence
Lindsey Thayer went 4-0 last week as the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College softball team extended its winning streak to 14 games after going 6-0 on the week. Thayer combined to post a 0.33 earned run average after allowing just one run in 21.0 innings of work. She struck out 49 and surrendered just nine hits in all while opposing hitters batted a paltry .123 against her. Thayer collected both wins in a doubleheader against Rochester on Tuesday with 27 total strikeouts before throwing back-to-back complete games against Brockport and Utica College, respectively.
Men’s Lacrosse Player – Nazareth
Hunter Burdick, Senior, Attack – Hopkinton, MA/St. John’s
Hunter Burdick helped Nazareth to a 1-1 week, including having a career-day with three goals and five assists to help Nazareth hand No. 18 Stevens its only conference loss of the season on Saturday. He also had one goal and one assist in Nazareth's weekday loss to No. 4 RIT.
Men’s Lacrosse Goalie – Alfred
Chris Doktor, Junior – Irondequoit, NY/Eastridge
Chris Doktor earned the goalie decision in two Empire 8 wins for AU last week. He started and played the first quarter in an 18-5 win at home against Houghton, making a save and not allowing a goal. He then went the distance in net at St. John Fisher in the season finale, stopping 12 shots in an 11-6 win., to snap a 12-game losing streak against the Cardinals. For the week, he had a 4.8 goals against average and a .684 save percentage.
Women’s Lacrosse Player – Houghton
Chandler Jones, Senior, Attack – Collegeville, PA/Spring-Ford
Chandler Jones compiled three goals and ten assists in a 2-0 week for Houghton.
In the 17-6 win over Alfred, she had 1 goal, 7 assists, 1 ground ball and 1 caused turnover. In the overtime win over Elmira, she had two goals, three assists and two groundballs. She scored the tying goal in regulation with six seconds left and then scored the sudden death goal in overtime to win it! She finished the season with the Houghton school record for most assists in a season at 58 and most career assists at 179.
Women’s Lacrosse Goalie – Nazareth
Brianna Rizzari, Sophomore – Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia
Brianna Rizzari made 14 saves and had a .560 save percentage in two conference wins last week. She stopped 12 shots and allowed nine goals in a 13-9 win over Utica on Wednesday. On Saturday, she made two saves and allowed two goals in 30 minutes of action against Alfred.
Men’s Outdoor Track Athlete – Alfred
Kevin Dixon, Senior – Rotterdam, NY/Mohonasen
Senior Kevin Dixon set a school-record in the 3,000-meter run when he hit a huge personal best of 9:00.12. He PR’d by 45.54 seconds and defeated all other runners by 1:19.28 or more while competing at the Bloomsburg University Maroon and Gold Invitational on Saturday. In his race, he defeated four runners from Wilkes University and one from Division II Bloomsburg University.
Men’s Outdoor Field Athlete – Utica
Ka’Sean Watlington, Freshman – Bayport, NY/Bayport-Bluepoint
Ka’Sean Watlington set two new personal bests at the Cardinal Classic. Watlington set a personal-best mark of 14.10 meters as he placed first in the triple jump. He also set a personal-record in the long jump with a mark of 6.78 meters to come in seventh place out of 42 competitors.
Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete – Ithaca
Taryn Cordani, Junior – Douglas, MA/Douglas
Junior Taryn Cordani took second overall at the Penn Relays on Friday in the 10K in 34:27.37 to shatter the previous school record of 35:14.40 set in 1984. Cordani only followed a runner from the University of Connecticut, who finished in 33:49.30, and beat out the next closest Division III entry by 42 seconds. She now ranks first nationally by .23 seconds.
Women’s Outdoor Field Athlete – Ithaca
Katherine Pitman, Senior – Swampscott, MA/Swampscott
Senior Katherine Pitman won the pole vault in the women's college division at the Penn Relays on Friday and topped a field of seven NCAA Division I athletes and another from a Canadian institution with a mark of 4.10 meters (13 feet, 5.25 inches). Pitman was tied with an athlete from the University of Oklahoma, but took the top spot due to total attempts. She then re-established her national best mark on Sunday at Cornell, winning the event at 4.15 meters.
Men’s Tennis Player – Ithaca
Wes Davis, Senior – Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Country Day
Wes Davis posted a combined 6-0 record in both singles and doubles as Ithaca marked a 3-0 record in the final week of the regular season. He picked up two of his singles victories in the top flight, as IC swept E8 foes Utica and Alfred in 9-0 matches. He also added a clinching victory in the second flight in Ithaca's 5-4 win over non-conference opponent Connecticut College in the regular-season finale on Sunday. In doubles, he picked up a pair of victories in the top flight against both Utica and Alfred, while he scored a second-flight win in the Bombers win over Connecticut College on Sunday. His singles victory on Sunday helped him join the Top-10 on Ithaca's all-time singles win list with his 50th career win in singles play.
Men’s Golf Player – St. John Fisher
Jeff Palmerino, Senior – Glenmont, NY/Bethlehem
Jeff Palmerino played a significant role in helping the St. John Fisher College men's golf team capture first place over the weekend at the Laker Spring Invitational in Oswego, N.Y. Palmerino finished second overall in the tournament after a shooting seven-over-par through 36 holes. After shooting a 75 on the first day, the senior returned to the links on Sunday and shaved one stroke off his opening round mark to finish with a second-round 74.