General | 12/4/2023 11:56:43 AM
Below are the Empire 8 Players of the Week, released on December 4, 2023, for games played from November 27 – December 3. It is the 14th Empire 8 weekly honors release of the 2023-24 season. Sports featured include men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving and men’s and women’s indoor track and field.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Daniel Cook, St. John Fisher, Gr., F, Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon
Cook averaged 27.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals in a 2-1 week, while shooting 57.4 percent from the floor and 94.4 percent from the foul line. He started the week against Carnegie Melon, by scoring 35 points, going 16-for-28 from the field. He added eight rebounds, four steals and two assists. In the opening conference game against Hartwick, the forward recorded an impressive 23 points, 17 rebound double-double, shooting a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line. He wrapped up the weekend against Russell Sage, where he tallied another double-double, this time scoring 23 points and collecting 11 rebounds. In addition, he added two assists, two steals and one block. It is Cook’s second E8 weekly accolade of 2023-24.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Khalel Noteman, Russell Sage, Fr., F/C, Brooklyn, NY/Canarsie
Noteman averaged 6.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, as Russell Sage opened Empire 8 play against Nazareth and St. John Fisher over the weekend. It is his third E8 weekly accolade of 2023-24.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Olivia Dobrovosky, Nazareth, Gr., F, Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles
Dobrovosky had an impressive weekend for Nazareth in the first two Empire 8 games of the year as the Golden Flyers swept the weekend road series at Sage and Hartwick. She averaged a double-double with 15.5 points and 10.0 rebounds. She had 20 points in the win over Sage and a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds at Hartwick.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Vanessa Hall, Utica, Fr., F, Whitesville, NY/Whitesville Central
Hall averaged 23.5 points and 6.0 boards per game on 56 percent shooting from the floor in a pair of games. She dropped a career-high 27 points, eight rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal on 11-for-16 shooting from the floor against Plattsburgh State Monday night. She followed this up by pouring in 20 points against Empire 8 foe Houghton University Saturday, while adding four rebounds and one assist. She leads the team with 17.1 points per game in her freshman campaign.
MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
CO-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Jack Armstrong, Hartwick, Sr., Diving, LaPaz, Windham, NH/Windham
Armstrong helped the Hartwick men to a sixth place finish at the Ithaca Bomber Invitational over the weekend with his performance in the 3-meter and 1-meter diving events. he was the top finisher of the two Empire 8 schools competing in the event. In the 3-meter event, Armstrong placed second overall with an 11-dive score of 439.85. In the 1-meter event, he placed third overall with an 11-dive score of 422.60.
CO-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Ryan Hough, Nazareth, Sr., Freestyle, Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua
Hough was the top Nazareth swimmer at the highly competitive Ithaca Invitational. He broke the school record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:43.86 and placed fourth. He added season-best swims of 21.16 in the 50-free (4th place) and 46.09 in the 100-free (3rd place). In addition, he helped the Nazareth relays to top-10 finishes with times of 1:40.43 (200-yard medley relay), 1:28.88 (200-free relay), 3:41.88 (400-medley relay), 7:13.11 (800-free relay) and 3:13.56 (400-free relay).
WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Julie Filipski, Nazareth, Sr., Freestyle/Individual Medley, Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park
Filipski was the top swimmer for Nazareth at the highly competitive Ithaca Invitational over the weekend. She recorded season-best times in three events with a 2:14.76 (200-yard individual medley), a 2:00.65 (200-yard freestyle) and a 2:30.69 (200-yard breaststroke). She also led Nazareth in each of the relays with times of 1:54.83 (200-yard medley relay - eighth), 1:43.24 (200-yard free relay - seventh), 4:14.40 (400-medley relay - ninth), 8:07.53 (800-free relay - sixth) and 3:46.57 (400-free relay - seventh).
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Justin Valentin, Utica, Sr., Sprints, Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville
Valentin took first place at the Saints Holiday Relays hosted by St. Lawrence University Saturday, placing first in the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 9.10.
FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Sean Cochrane, St. John Fisher, Sr., Jumps, Avon, NY/Avon
Cochrane claimed first place in the men's high jump at the Houghton December Classic on Friday evening, clearing the bar at 2.03-meters (6’7.75”) in his second attempt, which is currently the best in all of Division III to date in 2023-24.
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Anne Spila, Alfred, Jr., Sprints/Jumps/Multi, Mechanicsburg, PA/Trinity
Spila broke her own school record of 2,803 points in the indoor pentathlon with a new score of 2,978 points at Edinboro University’s Mike Kowal Multi Invitational over the weekend, going head-to-head with Division II athletes. She had three events where she earned personal bests during the pentathlon. Spila ran a 9.59 in the 60-meter hurdles, which is currently ranked 41st in Division III this season. She also reached 1.55m (5’-1”) in the high jump, which is 18th nationally to date and threw a 9.64m (31’-7.5”) mark in the shot put. Spila’s highest scoring event was 791 points from her 60-meter hurdles. She had 678 points in the high jump, 595 points in the long jump, reaching 5.13m (15’-10”). Spila scored 506 points in the shot put and added 408 points in the 800-meter run.
FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Jane Fahy, Utica, Gr., Throws, Oriskany, NY/Oriskany
Fahy won the shot put event at the Saints Holiday Relays hosted by St. Lawrence University on Saturday. The 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field All-American won first place with a toss of 13.16 meters (43’ 2.25”), which is currently eighth-best in Division III to date 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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