New Paltz AthleticsALUMNI NEWSLETTER

ANNUAL AWARDS BANQUET CAPS OFF2006-07 YEAR

The SUNY New Paltz Department of Athletics held its annualathletic banquet on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 to honor its student-athletes.

Junior Katie Becofsky was the recipient of the Heinz AhlmeyerAward. The award is presented annually to a junior or senior ath-lete with at least two years of varsity participation whose dedica-tion, perseverance and service throughout his or her athleticcareer at SUNY New Paltz has been an inspiration to both his/herteammates and fellow students. Becofsky is a setter on thewomen’s volleyball team, who helped lead the team into theSUNYAC semifinals and finished the year with 978 assists. She car-ries a 3.91 grade point average, is a Student-Athlete Mentor, amember of the Intercollegiate Athletic Board and was selected theSUNYAC East Division Player of the Year. What speaks most towho Katie is was how she handled herself after getting injured inSeptember. She was told she would be out for six weeks, so sherehabbed and continued to support her teammates by not miss-

ing a practice or game and being there for them. Because of herdedication to her team she was back on the court in three weeks.Becofsky is the thirteenth women to receive the award out of the43 previous winners.

Michelle Coombs earned the Carol Eckman Award. Given to thetop female athlete of the year, Coombs became a national cham-pion as she claimed the 100 freestyle with a time of 50.84 at the2007 NCAA Division III Championships. She touched second inthe 100 backstroke (56.59) and third in the 50 free (23.46), to gar-ner three first-team All-America honors. Coombs teamed upwith Laura Lipp, Erica Ellis and Ashley Williamson to finish 14thin the 200 MR, 16th in the 200 FR, and 16th in the 400 MR to earnthree honorable mention All-America awards. Coombs wasnamed the Outstanding Female Swimmer of the meet at theSUNYAC Championships. Coombs won the 50, 100 and 200freestyle, setting new SUNYAC meet, conference and varsityrecords in all of her individual events and was named to the All-Conference first team for her performance.

A member of the men’s basketball team, Senior AmseshemFoluke-Henderson claimed the Floyd Paterson Award as the topmale athlete of the year. Foluke-Henderson averaged 18.5 pointsper game, 7.9 rebounds, two assists and two steals; shooting 60%from the floor for 445 points. He scored his 1,000 point againstBaruch and career high 31 points verse Brockport. On the year heled the team in scoring eleven times, rebounds ten times andsteals eight times. Foluke-Henderson finished his three yearcareer as Hawk with 1,114 points and 451 rebounds.

The Kenneth F. Burda Award was presented to seniors KimClouston, Kristen Jackson and John Hauser. The award is present-ed to a student-athlete, who has participated for at least threeyears and who demonstrates outstanding academic achievement,sportsmanship, citizenship, ethical conduct and leadershipthroughout his/her career, beyond that which is generally expect-ed of student-athletes at New Paltz.

A member of the women’s volleyball team, Clouston is a twotime team captain who carries a 3.87 cumulative gpa inPsychology and a 4.00 in her major. She has received theChancellor’s Award for Student Excellence and has been namedto the AVAC All-Region team, Honorable Mention All-American,

Summer 2007

continued on back

Becofsky Foluke-Henderson Coombs

Jackson Hauser Clouston Hotta

SPRING SPORTS REPORT

SOFTBALL:In 2007, the women's softball team posted a record of 17-21 andearned a sixth place regular season SUNYAC finish. The Hawksfinished 10-10 in SUNYAC and reached the playoffs for the firsttime since 1998. The Hawks were defeated by Cortland in the firstround before being eliminated in the consolation bracket byGeneseo.

Junior Lauren Motzkin and first year Dale Cornelius earned all-conference recognition, the first time for New Paltz softball play-ers to be honored since 1998. Motzkin was selected to the team asa catcher, while Cornelius was honored as a utility player for herwork behind the plate and as a designated hitter. Motzkin battedan impressive .444 in conference play, including nine doubles and15 RBI. Cornelius started all 20 conference games and batted .387with 13 RBI. As a catcher she registered 31 putouts and five assists.First year Melyssa Cilmi hit .352, while shortstop AmaliaDiTrapani batted .324 with 21 RBI. Junior Kelly O’Hea posted a10-9 record and a 3.26 earned run average on the mound.

BASEBALL:In 2007, the baseball teamposted a record of 16-22. TheHawks finished 5-9 in SUNY-AC, including a come frombehind two run RBI single inthe bottom of the seventhwith bases loaded and twoouts to give New Paltz the 10-9 win over Brockport.Senior John DeKams led theteam in hitting with a .398average, seven doubles, ateam high 33 RBI, and wasnamed to the All-SUNYACsecond team. DeKams’ fin-ishes his career with a schoolrecord 210 hits, 45 doublesand 131 RBIs.

Junior outfielder Kevin Paino and junior catcher Alex Cadmusboth received first team recognition for their efforts this year.Paino started all 38 games in center field and batted .328 with 20RBI. In SUNYAC play, he tallied 15 hits and a fielding percentageof .971. Cadmus hit .328 on the season with 26 RBI. In the confer-ence he hit .353 with 14 RBI and .981 fielding percentage frombehind the plate.

Junior Zachary Potter completed the season with a 6-3 record onthe mound (2-1 in conference), while posting a 3.32 earned runaverage. He worked 76 innings and allowed 55 hits and struck out59 batters. Potter led the conference with 29 strikeouts in as anAll-SUNYAC second team selection.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL: In 2007, the men's volleyballteam posted a 22-10 overallrecord and finished 12-2 inthe NECVA-metro division.The Hawks earned the sixthseed in the NECVA tourna-ment and defeated #11Hunter 3-0 (30-23, 30-18, 30-25) in the first round beforebeing eliminated by #3Eastern Mennonite 3-0 (30-21, 30-24, 30-24).

Cornelius

Cadmus

Holden

Middle hitter, Christopher Holden was named the NECVARookie of the Year and to the First Team All-NECVA. Holden fin-ished the season with 303 kills on 577 attempts for an attack per-centage of .354 with 157 blocks. Senior Joshua Spiro totaled 284kills and 125 blocks, while classmate Jeff Lee finished with 303 killsand 184 digs. Sophomore Matt Weingarten dished out 1,119 assistsand Pedro Medina collected 303 digs.

HAWKS FINISH SIXTH INCOMMISSIONER'S CUP

The SUNY New Paltz athletic program finished sixth out of 11schools after the 2006-2007 season competition in the annualSUNYAC Commissioner's Cup. The Hawks scored 79.75 points toaverage 6.13 points per sport in the conference sponsored sports.New Paltz improved from their ninth place finish a year ago,when they totaled 67.50 points for a 5.19 average.

Points are awarded for regular season and SUNYAC tournamentplay based on an 11 point system. The first-place team gets 11points, the second-place team gets 10 points and so on. A team'sregular-season finish will be added to their post-season finish anddivided by two for their final total for that sport. The total num-ber of points that a school accumulates is divided by the numberof conference sports it has.

COMPLETE STANDINGS

HAWKS EARN ACADEMIC/ATHLETICHONORS

Senior women’s volleyball player KimClouston and men’s basketball playerJohn Hauser were recipients of the 2007Chancellor’s Award for StudentExcellence. The Chancellor’s Award forStudent Excellence was created to recog-nize students who have best demonstrat-ed, and been recognized, for the integra-tion of academic excellence with accom-plishments in the areas of leadership,athletics, community service, creativeand performing arts or career achieve-ment. The Award is given out annuallyto students who earn a Grade PointAverage (GPA) of 3.78 or higher andrecord a significant contribution to theircampus or local community. Cloustonand Hauser were honored by SUNY andChancellor John Ryan at a ceremony onApril 18th in Albany, NY at the EmpireState Plaza Convention Center.

Michelle Coombs was named the StateUniversity of New York AthleticConference (SUNYAC) WinterChancellor's Scholar Athlete forwomen's swimming. She attained agrade point average of 3.97 while major-ing in psychology with a sociology minorand earning First Team All-SUNYAChonors. The SUNYAC Chancellor'sScholar Athlete Awards are given annu-ally in each sport to a first or secondteam all-conference member with thehighest grade-point average.

Clouston

Hauser

Coombs

Cortland 9.59

Geneseo 9.41

Brockport 7.79

Oneonta 7.04

Plattsburgh 6.98

New Paltz 6.13

Fredonia 6.04

Oswego 5.98

Buffalo State 5.88

Potsdam 3.87

SUNYIT 2.91

and is a first team All-Conference selection. Win or lose, she seeksout and thanks officials after matches and congratulates oppo-nents who stood out during a match. Clouston is a part of theleadership academy, SAAC, and an athlete mentor.

Jackson is a two-time captain of the women’s basketball team,who helped lead the Hawks to the SUNYAC semifinals with amiracle comeback win over Geneseo. She is an all around teamplayer giving 110% everyday. In her four seasons she has scored461 points and grabbed 261 rebounds. Her career best is 17 pointsscored against Buffalo State in 2004. Off the court, she helps raiseawareness for the Pallister-Killian Syndrome or PKS, which hernephew has been diagnosed with. PKS is a chromosome abnor-mality when a tetrasomy of the short art of chromosome 12 (12p)occurs for no known reason.

Hauser has been a staple on the Hawks starting line up for fourseasons. A three-year team captain and MVP, he started 94 of apossible 99 games. He eclipsed the 1,000 career point mark onDec. 31, 2006 against Chaminade and finished his career with1,299 points and 551 rebounds. His career best is 31 points scoredvs. SUNYIT on January 19, 2007. Off the court he trains the ball boy, Victor, is a member of the Intercollegiate Athletic Board and

was the recipient of the Heinz Ahlmeyer Award in 2006. He is thefirst Hawk to be named to the CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-American third team and recently received the Chancellor’sAward for Student Excellence. Following graduation, he will beworking for Ernst and Young Accounting Firm.

The Athletic Director’s Award is presented to an individual whohas provided dedicated service to the Department. For living anddying orange and blue for the last 17 years, for making ever stu-dent-athlete feel special and important, for giving of himself forthe cause of New Paltz athletics whether at home or on the road,Keith Sobel is the 2007 recipient.

Clouston, Hauser, and Masanori Hotta were the recipients of theDonald Bishko Award. The Donald Bishko Award is given eachyear to the male and female student-athlete who had the highestgrade point average at the conclusion of the fall semester. Amember of the women’s volleyball team, Clouston earned a 3.96grade point average as a psychology major. Hauser, a member ofthe men’s basketball team, earned a grade point average of 3.78while majoring in accounting. A member of the men’s soccerteam, Hotta, earned a 3.78 in communication.

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