General | 12/11/2023 12:27:54 PM
Below are the Empire 8 Players of the Week, released on December 11, 2023, for games played from December 4 – December 10. It is the 15th Empire 8 weekly honors release of the 2023-24 season. Sports featured include men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s indoor track and field.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Daniel Cook, St. John Fisher, Gr., F, Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon
Cook led the way with 30 points on 13-of-23 shooting from the floor (56 percent) to go along with 11 rebounds, while adding five assists, four steals and a block in an 84-77 loss at 2023 NCAA Tournament participant Hamilton College on Saturday. It is Cook’s fifth double-double of the season and his third E8 weekly accolade of 2023-24.
CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Mason VanDeMortel, Keuka, Sr., F, Newark, NY/Newark
VanDeMortel excelled as Keuka College opened Empire 8 play with a 93-59 victory over Houghton University on Tuesday. He led the Wolves with 23 points in just 21 minutes of action, shooting 9-12 from the floor (.750) and 4-6 from 3-point range. He also grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots in the win. For the season, VanDeMortel is averaging 12.0 points a game and leads the Wolves in rebounding. He also leads the conference in blocked shots per game.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Tyler Curran, Alfred, So., G, Allegheny, NY/Allegheny-Limestone
Curran broke two season-highs in a non-conference win over SUNY Geneseo on Tuesday. The first was five field goals, with two of them being 3-pointers, resulting in a season-high mark of 14 points. Curran had a career-high in assists as well, helping on five baskets during the win. He finished his week with six points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal at Houghton Saturday.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Katie MacLachlan, Nazareth, So., G, Marcellus, NY/Marcellus
MacLachlan recorded a pair of career-high scoring efforts as Nazareth downed a pair of future Empire 8 opponents in Brockport and Geneseo. She scored 19 points to lead Nazareth past Geneseo 80-69 and then notched 26 points as the Golden Flyers completed the weekly sweep with a 73-54 win over Brockport. She shot 17-for-28 (60.7 percent) from the field and hit seven 3-pointers. She added seven rebounds, two blocks and nine steals in the two wins. It is her second E8 weekly accolade of the season.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Tabitha DeVries, Houghton, Fr., F, White House Station, NJ/Hunterdon
DeVries helped Houghton start conference play 3-0 while remaining unbeaten at 11-0 overall with three wins during the week. She averaged 10 points (on 53 percent shooting) per game to go with five rebounds, and two assists in two conference wins over Keuka and Alfred last week.
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Kaleb Luton, Nazareth, Gr., Jumps/Sprints/Hurdles, Amherst, NY/Sweet Home
Luton nearly broke his own school record in the 60-meter hurdles event in the first meet of the season on Friday from the Golisano Training Center. He clocked an 8.14 in the finals to win the event and was just .01 off the school record of 8.13. That time is currently eighth-best in all of Division III to date this season.
FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Andrew Wieder, Utica, Sr., Multi, Clinton, NY/Clinton
Wieder completed the heptathlon at the Utica Holiday Classic over the weekend and won the event with a point total of 3,907. Wieder was second coming into Saturday's heptathlon and performed well enough in his remaining events to take the win, including a win in the pole vault where he cleared 3.50 meters. He was second in three other events during the weekend. Wieder’s score is currently 24th in Division III to date this season.
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Ciarra Franz, St. John Fisher, Jr., Sprints/Jumps, Pittsford, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima
Franz began the Nazareth University Alumni Opener on Friday by competing in the 60 meter hurdles and in the first round, she recorded a time of 8.82 seconds. That time has her currently ranked third in all of NCAA Division III. She also jumped 5.43 meters (17’9.75”) in the long jump to earn the 14th best performance nationally in the event.
FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Lea Richard, Nazareth, Sr., Throws, Gansevoort, NY/South Glens Falls
Richard recorded another school record in the weight throw as she won the event Friday night at the Nazareth Alumni Opener meet. After finishing 10th in the shot put with a throw of 10.72 meters (35' 2"), she uncorked a record throw of 17.52 meters (57' 5 ¾") to break the meet record, facility record and school record as she won the event. She broke the school record by nearly a foot. Richard’s throw is the second-best in all of Division III this season.
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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