Bonnie J. Edmondson '87
Senior Female SportsPerson-of-the-Year

 
Megan Hodgdon / Softball
Cheshire
 
Hodgdon becomes the award's 23^rd recipient. In support of Hodgdon for the Edmondson Award, current head coach Diana Pepin praised her fifth-year player and three-year captain for the passion, dedication and support of her teammates and coaches that had "a significant positive impact upon this nationally-recognized softball program. Her selflessness was displayed each and every day that she stepped on the field. She did anything to help the team be successful on and off the field. She may have liked to have fun, but she knew when to focus on the task at hand. Meg had poise and heart and transformed our culture back to the Warrior Way." Hodgdon was also the 36^th recipient of the softball program's Jeff Anderson Memorial Award last spring for exhibiting the traits of loyalty, commitment and love for the program in similar fashion as the former Eastern head and assistant coach.

Francis E. Geissler
Senior Male SportsPerson-of-the-Year

 
Maxwell Chace / Cross Country-Track & Field
Brooklyn
 
The award's 23^rd recipient, Chace was a four-year athlete and two-sport captain in the sports of cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field. Head coach Kathy Manizza points to Chace's leadership in helping the cross country team go from finishing fourth at the 2019 Little East Conference Championship to winning the 2020 LEC Virtual Championship. "Anyone who talks to Max can see his enthusiasm for the sport, for athletics as a whole, and for giving back to his community", says Manizza. A high honors student and inductee in the National Leadership Honor Society Omicron Delta Kappa, Chace was involved in numerous community service and civic projects throughout his career. Among his pursuits are serving as an historian for the East Coast Greenway -- having studied its history and having shares that history with communities along the greenway. He has helped clean up of a vacant homeless camp on the rail line in Willimantic and helped the team organize a cleanup day for a local part in the Greater Willimantic area and has been involved every Thanksgiving along with the team as a volunteer for the Little Manchester Road Race, as well as with the 95-mile RiMaConn Relay which ran from the East Coast Greenway from Providence to Hartford.

Morrell Service Award

Julia Koonjy
Sr. / Jefferson, NJ
 
Koonjy was a member of the student staff as a weight room supervisor for two years under former strength & conditioning coach Jeanne Rankin. In addition to displaying the qualities of punctuality, communication and commitment, Koonjy was described as vital in Rankin's transition into her position upon being appointed in the fall of 2019. Rankin emphasized that Koonjy was exceptional when it came to enforcing the rules and policies of the weight room with patrons. "In addition to being a great employee, Julia was always a great co-worker as far as getting along with everyone on the staff." In addition to her on-campus job, Koonjy was also a four-year member of the field hockey program.

 

Team Sport Male Athlete-of-the-Year

Luke Broadhurst / Baseball
Sr. / Stafford
 
In his first full season with the nationally-ranked baseball program, Broadhurst earned countless honors on and off the field for the 2021 team which won the Little East Conference regular-season title, was ranked No. 1 in New England and earned an at-large berth into its 35^th NCAA Division III baseball tournament and had a final national ranking of No. 19 and final record of 32-8. On the field, the third baseman was named second-team All-America by the American Baseball Coaches' Association (ABCA) and first team by D3baseball.com, as well as New England Region and Little East Conference Player-of-the-Year. Off the field, he earned second-team Academic All-America recognition by the College Sports Information Directors Association of America (CoSIDA). The only player to start all 40 games, the cleanup hitter led or shared the team lead in batting (.397), runs (47), triples (4), slugging (.766), walks (27), hit-by-pitch (9) and on-base percentage (.514). In seven LEC and NCAA games, he batted .321 with three home runs.
 

Team Sport Male Rookie-of-the-Year

Jason Claiborn / Baseball
Fr. / Prospect
 
One of only four freshmen to be named All-Little East Conference, the rightfielder was a second-team selection in the outfield.  The team's only starting first-year player, Claiborn batted leadoff on the LEC regular-season championship team and NCAA qualifier which finished 32-8. Claiborn batted .360 and was third on the team with 16 multi-hit games. He appeared in all but three games, with 35 starts. He led the team in stolen bases (12) and attempts (16) and was third on the team in hits (54) and runs (37). He had ten extra-base hits and 18 RBI. He committed only one error in his first 32 games and two on 51 chances during the year. He was named LEC Rookie-of-the-Week once in the final report of the season when he went 7-for-11 in the final three regular-season games of the season with four runs scored, two doubles, two walks, a stolen base, four putouts, and four RBI. During the year, he had six three-hit games and a four-hit game

Team Sport Female Athlete-of-the-Year

Brooke Matyasovsky / Softball
Jr. / Orange
 
The eighth softball player to win the award in the last 11 voting years, Matyasovsky was one of 15 finalists for National Fastpitch Coaches' Association (NFCA) Player-of-the-Year. She reached the pinnacle of success both athletically and academically when she was named first-team NFCA Division III All-America as a first baseman and pitcher and first-team Academic All-America by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Also named as the Little East Conference Player-of-the-Year, Matyasovsky enjoyed one of the most accomplished seasons in program history when she batted .450 with 15 home runs, 112 total bases and 48 RBI and was 14-3 with a save and a 2.08 ERA as a pitcher when she won her first ten decisions. Her home run total was the second-highest (by one) in program history, as was her .933 slugging percentage. Her 28 extra bases equaled the second-most in program history, with her 112 total bases equaling the third-most in program history and her 13 doubles equaling the seventh-most in a season.
 

Team Sport Female Rookie-of-the-Year

Alyssa Vilchez / Softball
So. / Brampton, Ont.
 
The right-hander pitched a complete-game four-hit 7-0 shutout at the University of Southern Maine in her first career start (third appearance) in the championship game of the Little East Conference to earned MVP honors and send the Warriors to their sixth LEC tournament title in the last 12 years and into their 22^nd NCAA Division III tournament. She fanned four and allowed only one extra-base hit (double) in that game. After missing nearly half of the season while rehabilitating an ACL injury, Vilchez re-joined the team in early April and batted .404 (21-for-52) with a .500 slugging percentage and .475 on-base percentage and 19 assists in 22 games as a DP and second baseman. On the season, she had two three-hit and two two-hit games and scored two or more runs three times. She was the starting pitcher in two of the team's four NCAA games without a decision, starting a third-round 7-4 win over Endicott College, striking out six in 3 1/3 innings and giving up two earned runs. The left-handed hitter came into the season having played and started the team's two games during the 2020 season, going 4-for-7 in a doubleheader against Wesleyan University three RBI and two runs scored.
 

Individual Sport Female Athlete-of-the-Year

Kerry-Rose Buchanan / Swimming
Jr. / Southington
 
One of the winningest distance freestylers in the 26-year history of the program, Buchanan finished first in five of seven official races in the 100, 200, 500 and 1000 freestyle events during a Covid-abbreviated season which included only a handful of virtual and in-person meets. Buchan won the 100, 200 and 500 against Rhode Island College last March 6 and won the 500 and 1000 against Keene State College a week later. Her times in the 100 (56.86) and 1000 (11:14.22) established personal bests. An All-New England performer in three distance freestyle events, Buchanan is ranked among the program's all-time Top 10 in all five freestyle events in which she has participated in her career, including fourth in the 500 and 1650, fifth in the 1000, seventh in the 200, and tenth in the 100. She is the only swimmer in program history to earn that Top 10 distinction in all five freestyle events ranging from 100 and 1650 yards.

Individual Sport Female Rookie-of-the-Year

Wendie Stewart/ Track & Field
So. / Hartford
 
Competing outdoors for the first time, Stewart finished 15^th in the discus in the New England Open after being seeded first in the discus and third in the shot at the Little East Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships two weeks prior. Competing at the Little East outdoor meet for the first time, Stewart earned All-LEC honors with a second-place finish in the discus and was third in the shot among the same number of participants in helping her team to second place overall in a field of eight teams. At the Eastern Invitational in late March, she posted the second-longest discus throw in program history behind Olympian Bonnie Edmondson with a winning mark of 126-11 and threw the hammer 95 feet – the 19^th best toss ever – at the Little East championships in late March.  Indoors, she placed second twice at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Invitational with throws of 36-4 ¾ and 37-6 1/2, respectively.

Individual Sport Male Athlete-of-the-Year

Ryan Escoda / Cross Country-Track & Field
Jr. / Newtown
 
A former departmental Individual Sport Rookie-of-the-Year, Escoda attained All-Little East Conference distinction in cross country and All-Little East Rookie-of-the-Year honors in track & field in his career. In the fall of 2020, Escoda helped the cross country team win the Little East Virtual Cross Country Championships by winning the individual title. In the spring, he won the Little East steeplechase title – among many other accomplishments – in helping the Warriors win the team title. Later that month, he became the first Eastern male or female to score points in the 3000 steeplechase at the New England Open when he broke his own program record and finished fourth en route to All-New England honors in a time of 9:35.38. At the Coast Guard, he set an indoor personal best with a time of 2:01.91 that that ensured a second-place finish and he followed that up outdoors with an outdoor PR of 1:59.14 – the seventh-fast 800 in program history -- in a third-place finish at the Little East Championships in early May. In addition to setting the 3,000 steeplechase record outdoors, he won the 5000 in a program-record  time of 15:28.05 at the Eastern Invitational in late March – the fastest indoor or outdoor time ever.
 

Individual Sport Male Rookie-of-the-Year

Ashton Lewis / Golf
Fy. / Fairfield
 
Lewis became the second-year golf program's first departmental major award-winner after earning medalist honors at the Little East Conference Virtual Men's Golf Championships in the fall and medalist honors at the inaugural LEC Men's Golf Invitational in the spring. In addition to earning medalist honors last spring, Lewis was named to the all-tournament team after shooting six-over-par in ultra-windy conditionals to win the individual title. Tied after the first round, Lewis was nine strokes better than his nearest competitor on the second day.