Wrap Up: Blue Devil Spring 2013 season
Baseball:
Qualified for SUNYAC Tournament, eliminating New Paltz in the second round, before being ousted by Oswego, 9-8, in a walk-off heartbreaker to finish with a 19-16 record. Senior outfielder Kenny Johnston (Buffalo) made the all-tournament team. Senior catcher Brian Sheehan (West Seneca) and senior first baseman Dillon Lowe (Pittsford) were selected All-SUNYAC. Fifth-year senior Jake Nowak (Depew) was named Third Team All-Region utility player by D3Baseball.com. Nowak started six different positions in 2013.
Men's Basketball
Junior forward Tyrone Clark (Elmira) averaged 12.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game to lead the Blue Devils in both categories.
Women's Basketball
Junior guard Becky Hebert (Hilton) averaged 18.0 points per game and led the SUNYAC in scoring for the second straight year. She surpassed 1,000 collegiate points, was named Second Team All- SUNYAC, and won the SUNYAC Chancellor’s Award as the all-conference player with the highest GPA. Junior forward Jaimie Warren (Lake View) was fourth in SUNYAC scoring at 13.2 points per game, earning Third Team all-conference.
Hockey
Qualified for the SUNYAC Tournament. Graduation claimed 10 players, including forward Mat Hehr (Sherwood Park, Alberta) and goaltender Mark Friesen (Calgary, Alberta). Hehr had 43 goals and 40 assists in 99 games as a Blue Devil. Friesen posted these career numbers: a 27-31-6 record, 2.86 goals against average, .909 save percentage.
Softball
Freshman second baseman Alyssa Morgan (Homer) hit .421, the third-best batting average in team history and third-best in the conference this spring. She made Second Team All-SUNYAC, Third Team North Region by the NFCA, and was the Fredonia State Female Rookie of the Year. The team’s season high point was a road win over Cortland, the eventual national runner-up.
Swimming and Diving
Senior divers Sarah Ficarro (Owego) and Ryan Fuller (Endicott) made the NCAA championship field, along with junior diver Ashley Keller (Lockport). It was Ficarro’s fourth straight appearance and the first for Fuller and Keller, who each earned two All-American honors, along with Ficarro’s one (giving her seven in four seasons). It was the eighth straight year Fredonia had at least one diver, male or female, at the NCAAs nationals. Fuller also repeated as SUNYAC champ off both boards, set a conference meet record in the 1-meter, and was the SUNYAC Men’s Diver of the Meet and First Team All-SUNYAC for the second straight year. Ficarro won the 3-meter board with a conference-record score, while Keller won the 1-meter, set a meet, conference and team record, and was named Female Diver of the Meet. Both women were named First Team All-SUNYAC. Second Team women honorees were junior diver Katelyn Haley (Canandaigua) and three swimmers: seniors Emily Ginty (Chenango Forks) and Stephanie Andrasek (Parma, Ohio), and freshman Natalia Wilkins (Merrick). On the men’s side, junior John Estanislau (East Longmeadow, Mass) and freshman Rafael Santiago (Middletown) also earned All-SUNYAC status. Estanislau was second in both the 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly, while Santiago was third in 1-meter diving. Ficarro received three additional honors: SUNYAC’s Dr. Delores Bogard Award as the junior or senior female athlete in all sports with the best combination of academic and athletic ability; a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence; and Fredonia State’s Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
Track and Field
Spencer Lefort (Java Center) was an NCAA Division III All-American in the heptathlon after winning the ECAC D-III heptathlon (see story on p. 20). Freshman Eric Williams (Batavia) won the SUNYAC 110-meter hurdles and represented Fredonia at the NCAA D-III outdoor championship meet, where he finished his season with a personal-best in the event. He was named Fredonia State Male Rookie of the Year. Lefort, Williams, fifth-year senior Carl Caughell (Niagara Falls) and senior Max Radley (Batavia) earned All-SUNYAC honors. Caughell was second in the 60-meter hurdles indoors and the 110-meter hurdles outdoors to earn two certificates, while Radley was second in the outdoor hammer throw. For the women, two throwers made All-SUNYAC Second Team based on performances in separate championship meets. Indoors, sophomore Nicole Desens (Hopewell Junction) was second in the shot put. Outdoors, freshman Lauren Acevedo (Poughkeepsie) was second in the javelin.
Volleyball
Junior Hannah Manning (Apalachin) was named the SUNYAC Chancellor’s Award winner in her sport for attaining the highest GPA among the women on the all-conference team last fall. The team finished 19-16.
