General | 12/13/2021 12:51:45 PM
Below are the Empire 8 Players of the Week, released on December 13, 2021, for games played from December 6-December 12. It is the 15th Empire 8 weekly honors release of the 2021-22 season. Sports featured include men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s indoor track and field.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Stephen Gabel, Nazareth, Gr., G, Victor, NY/Fairport
Gabel scored 27 points, grabbed nine rebounds and shot 59 percent (10-for-17) from the field in a one-point win at SUNY Poly in Nazareth’s final game of the fall semester. He scored 23 of his 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting with all nine boards coming in the second half. It is Gabel’s second E8 weekly honor of the season.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Preston Bax, Houghton, Fr., G, New Orleans, LA/St. Augustine
Bax averaged 8.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.0 assist per game off the bench for the Highlanders. Bax went 4-10 from beyond the arc and a perfect 2-2 from the foul line for Houghton. On Thursday, he poured in 11 points versus Wells.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Brigid Johndrow, Utica, Gr., G, Bristol, CT/St. Paul Catholic
Johndrow recorded the first triple-double by an Empire 8 player since Mary Kate Tierney of Ithaca did so on March 14, 2014, recording 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the Utica's 90-82 win over Morrisville State on Saturday. She added 10 points, four assists and two steals in 19 minutes in a win over Wells Wednesday. It is Johndrow’s second straight E8 weekly accolade.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Krissy Geraci, Utica, So., F, Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia
Geraci averaged 12 points on 57.9 percent shooting (11-for-19), 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and one steal in 27.5 minutes per game over two games this past week. In Utica’s win over Wells on Wednesday, Geraci netted 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting and came down with six rebounds in 18 minutes. In the team’s 90-82 win over Morrisville State on Saturday, Geraci played 37 minutes off of the pine and ended the game with 12 points (6-of-9 shooting), seven assists and three boards. It is her second E8 weekly accolade of 2021-22.
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Kaleb Luton, Nazareth, Jr., Sprints/Hurdles/Jumps, Amherst, NY/Sweet Home
Luton broke the school record in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.18 seconds and also posted a time of 7.35 seconds in the 60-meter dash and had a 6.29-meter (21' 3 1/2") leap in the long jump as Nazareth opened the 2021-22 Indoor season at home in the Nazareth Alumni Meet. Luton’s 60-meter hurdles time is currently second among all Division III student-athletes.
FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Kyle Rollins, St. John Fisher, Gr., Jumps, Groveland, NY/Geneseo
Rollins, the two-time National High Jump Champion and eight-time All-American opened the 2021-22 indoor season in a big way, clearing an amazing 2.17 meters (7’1.5”) in the high jump at the Nazareth Alumni Opener on Friday. Not only is this the top jump in Division III to date this season but it is also the ninth highest jump in Division III history.
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Amerrah Horne-Vaden, Houghton, Fr., Sprints, Portland, OR/Tualatin
Horne-Vaden set a school record in the women's 300-meter dash to lead Houghton at the Nazareth Alumni Opener on Friday. For Horne-Vaden, it was her third school record in the last two weeks. The first-year standout finished in fifth with a time of 42.82 seconds, breaking Nikki Garns' record of 43.77 seconds set in 2016. Horne-Vaden also won the 60 meters Friday with a time of 8.04 seconds. She garnered her second straight E8 weekly honor of 2021-22.
FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Bianca Durso, Alfred, So., Multi-Events, Utica, NY/New Hartford
Durso won the pentathlon at the Utica College Indoor Invitational on Saturday with a personal best score of 2,397 points, which is currently 17th in Division III. Her top score was in the high jump with 655 points coming from her collegiate best height of 1.53 meters. She also had three events in the 400-point range, scoring 490 points in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 11.29 seconds. Durso also had 442 points in the shot put with a toss of 8.66 meters and 422 points in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:54.12. Durso rounded out her pentathlon win with 388 points from the long jump with a vault of 4.34 meters.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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