Men's Golf | 4/24/2025 9:59:13 AM
The Empire 8 Conference announced its 2024-25 Men’s Golf All-Conference awards on Thursday, April 24. Sophomore Lincoln Crosby of Nazareth University was named Player of the Year, Nick Years of St. John Fisher University earned Rookie of the Year honors, while Bob Simms of St. John Fisher was named the E8 Coach of the Year.
The league champion Cardinals led the way with four all-conference selections, all first team picks, while runner-up Nazareth University also had four golfers earn all-league honors and Utica University had three all-conference honorees. The awards were based on results from the 2024-25 Empire 8 Championship, in which the first two rounds of the 2024-25 Empire 8 Golf Championship were held at Lakeshore Yacht and Country Club in Cicero, NY on Oct. 6-7 and final 36 holes were played April 18-19 at at Lebanon Country Club in Lebanon, PA.
St. John Fisher won its fourth straight league title and 20th Empire 8 Championship in program history and will compete at the 2025 NCAA Division III Championship, which will take place May 20-23 at Midvale Country Club in Penfield, NY, a suburb of Rochester, which will also be hosted by the Cardinals.
Crosby, the 2023-24 Empire 8 Rookie of the Year, was fourth after the first two rounds in the fall before shooting up the leaderboard by carding a third round score of 72 (even par). Heading into the final round tied, Crosby built a multiple-shot lead en route to recording a fourth round score of 75 to finish with a final score of 302 strokes, outlasting RJ Juodaitits of St. John Fisher by one stroke to win the individual medalist title. Crosby is the second Nazareth student-athlete to win E8 Player of the Year honors, joining Brian Seeley, who won in 2003.
Years was named Empire 8 Rookie of the Year after finishing fifth overall over the four rounds with a score of 310. He shot an 80 during the first round, 76 in the second round and 79 during the third round, before carding a 75 during the final round, which was tied for the second lowest among all E8 student-athletes. Years is the 11th different St. John Fisher student-athlete to win E8 Rookie of the Year honors.
St. John Fisher seniors Joe DePasquale and RJ Juodaitis in addition to graduate student Nick Tellone joined Crosby and Years as top-five finishers to earn All-E8 first team accolades. DePasquale and Juodaitis all earned All-Empire 8 first team accolades for the third straight season, while Tellone garnered his second first team accolade.
Simms helped guide St. John Fisher to its fourth straight Empire 8 title and 20th in program history. Simms has served as head coach for all 20 Empire 8 Championships. The Cardinals had four golfers earn All-E8 first team honors. It is the 11th time Simms has earned E8 Coach of the Year honors.
One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2024-25 Men's Golf Sportsman of the Year Team. The Empire 8 Conference emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportsmen.
2024-25 Empire 8 Men’s Golf Award Winners
Player of the Year: Lincoln Crosby, So., Nazareth
Rookie of the Year: Nick Years, Fr., St. John Fisher
Coach of the Year: Bob Simms, St. John Fisher
Empire 8 First Team
Lincoln Crosby, So., Nazareth – 302 (Chevy Chase, MD/DeMatha Catholic)
RJ Juodatis, Sr., St. John Fisher – 303 (Endwell, NY/Union-Endicott)
Joe DePasquale, Sr., St. John Fisher – 307 (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro)
Nick Tellone, Gr., St. John Fisher – 307 (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna)
Nick Years, Fr., St. John Fisher – 310 (Farmington, NY/Victor)
Empire 8 Second Team
Daniel Maloney, Fr., Utica – 319 (Syracuse, NY/Living Word Academy)
Nathan MacDonald, Jr., Utica – 322 (Canton, MA/Canton)
Anthony Falgiatano, Gr., Nazareth – 322 (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes)
Charlie Calcagni, Fr., Nazareth – 323 (Honeoye Falls, NY/Norman Howard)
Adam Woodmansee, Gr., Utica – 326 (Brewerton, NY/Paul V. Moore)
Empire 8 Third Team
Tyler Donohue, Sr., SUNY Oswego – 327 (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern)
Shane Kammerman, Sr., Russell Sage – 328 (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas)
Mike Douglas, Sr., SUNY Oswego – 328 (Oswego, NY/Oswego)
Vincent Falgiatano, Jr., Nazareth – 328 (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes)
Elijah Waterhouse, Sr., Russell Sage – 328 (Lake Luzerne, NY/Lake Luzerne)
Empire 8 Sportsman of the Year
John McCall, Sr., SUNY Canton (Madrid, NY/Madrid-Waddington)
Lucas Kielon, Fr., Nazareth (Wayne, NY/Wayne)
Tyler Green, Jr., Keuka (Sackets Harbor, NY/Sackets Harbor)
Dante Cassella, Sr., SUNY Oswego (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool)
Blake Pugh, Sr., SUNY Poly (Parish, NY/Altmar-Parish-Williamstown)
Devin Gilbert, Sr., Russell Sage (Kingston, NY/Kingston)
Andrew Rohrs, Sr., St. John Fisher (Allegany, NY/Allegany-Limestone)
Adam Woodmansee, Gr., Utica (Brewerton, NY/Paul V. Moore)
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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