West Babylon, N.Y. - On Thursday afternoon, the East Coast Conference announced its annual academic award winners.
The East Coast Conference announced its Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year, as well as the Scholar-Athletes of the Year sponsored sports the competed during the 2021 season. Daemen men’s basketball standout Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) was named the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Courtney Greene (East Islip, N.Y.) of the Molloy softball team earned the honor as Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Sischo, a Business Administration graduate student with a 3.67 GPA, was named the ECC Player of the Year for the third straight season while leading the Wildcats to their first-ever East Region Championship and NCAA Elite Eight berth. A consensus All-American, Sischo ranked in the top-five in Division II with averages of 26.7 points and 12.8 rebounds per game and led the nation with 12 double-doubles. He heads into his final season just 25 points away from breaking the conference’s all-time scoring record.
Greene, an Accounting graduate student with a 4.0 postgraduate GPA after compiling a 3.81 undergraduate GPA, wrapped up her career by earning a spot on the ECC All-Conference First Team. The utility player excelled both at the plate and in the circle. She hit .341 with 12 doubles, five homeruns, and 30 runs batted in, while also finishing with a 19-7 record to go along with a 1.71 earned run average and 109 strikeouts over 168.0 innings pitched.
Sischo and Greene were also named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year for their respective sports.
All ECC Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipients hold at least a 3.30 GPA, are a starter or key reserve and have reached at least sophomore standing both athletically and academically.
With athletic performance one of the criteria for earning Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the ECC only awarded the honor for sports that competed during the 2020-21 academic year.
2021 ECC Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Baseball – Andrew Jemison, St. Thomas Aquinas: Jemison earns the Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor after helping the Spartans to an ECC Regular Season Championship and an at-large berth in the NCAA Championship. A First Team All-Conference pick, he finished the 2021 season with a .367 batting average, 14 extra-base hits, and 28 runs batted in. In the classroom, Jemison has posted a 3.94 GPA as an Exercise Science major.
Women's Basketball – Katie Titus, Daemen: Titus, a junior Childhood/Special Education major with a 3.90 GPA, was an All-ECC selection for the third straight season. She earned a spot on the First Team after averaging 14.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, and 1.6 steals per game. Titus also helped the Wildcats to an ECC Regular Season Championship, an NCAA East Region Championship, and the program’s first-ever NCAA Elite Eight appearance.
Women's Bowling – Jenna Rapach, Caldwell: Rapach, a junior Nursing major with a 3.82 GPA, earns the honor after being named to the ECC All-Conference First Team. Rapach led the ECC with a frame fill percentage of 85.7 and ranked in the top-10 with a 19.078 frame average.
Men’s Lacrosse – Hunter Lemieux, Roberts Wesleyan: Lemieux, a senior Business Management/Social Entrepreneurship/Marketing major with a 3.50 GPA, earns the honor after also earning the ECC Offensive Player of the Year award. Lemieux led the ECC with 47 goals and 60 points on the season.
Women’s Lacrosse – Emily Tomei, Roberts Wesleyan: Tomei, a senior Education major with a 3.75 GPA, was the ECC Midfielder of the Year and an IWLCA All-American after leading the Redhawks to their first-ever ECC Championship and a spot in the NCAA National Semifinals. Tomei scored 65 points on the season, which includes an ECC-leading 51 goals.
Men’s Outdoor Track and Field – Erik Matthews, Daemen: Matthews, a junior with a perfect 4.0 GPA as a Physical Therapy major, was the ECC Champion in both the 110m (16.53) and 400m (57.25) hurdles.
Women’s Outdoor Track and Field – Bailey Gostomski, Roberts Wesleyan: Gostomski is the Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year after earning All-Conference First Team honors in the 800m (2:24.09), 1500m (4:55.90), and the 4x400m relay (4:06.91). Academically, Gostomski holds a 3.94 GPA as a junior Biology major.
Men’s Tennis – Moritz Borges, Queens: Borges earns the Scholar-Athlete honor with a 3.81 GPA as a junior Economics major. On the court, he was an All-Conference honoree after finishing with a perfect 4-0 record in ECC play.
Women’s Tennis – Ayesha Burnett, St. Thomas Aquinas: Burnett, also the 2021 ECC Women’s Tennis Elite 19 recipient, earns the Scholar-Athlete honor as well. On the court, she finished with a 9-3 singles record. In the classroom, she has compiled a 3.88 GPA as an Accounting major.
ECC Academic Success Rate Award
St. Thomas Aquinas was awarded the ECC Academic Success Rate Award. The Spartans earned the honor for the fourth year in a row after posting a 91 percent graduation success rate in the NCAA Academic Tracking System.
