The 2024 SUNY Cortland C-Club Athletic Awards Ceremony, held April 29 at the College's Brown Auditorium in Old Main, honored the top student-athletes from among the 800-plus who competed on Cortland's 25 men's and women's intercollegiate teams during the past academic year.
 

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Photo Gallery
List of Past Ceremony Award Winners
List of Past Red Letter Award Winners

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The SUNY Cortland C-Club Men's Sports and Women's Sports Senior Athlete of the Year and Rookie Athlete of the Year finalists were announced at the ceremony. The winners will be selected early this summer after the completion of the spring sports season. The finalists for those awards are:
 
Senior Men's Sport Athlete of the Year Finalists:

Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy), Cross Country/Track and Field
Mat Bruno (Rye), Baseball
Cole Burgess (Greenwich), Football
J.C. Cardenas (Brooklyn/Grand Street Campus), Wrestling
Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro), Track and Field
JJ Laap (Stony Brook/Ward Melville), Football
Mateo Marra (Ossining), Soccer
 
Senior Women's Sport Athlete of the Year Finalists:

Toni Cashman (East Moriches/Westhampton Beach), Lacrosse
Dany Donegan (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse), Ice Hockey
Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima), Track and Field/Volleyball
Gina Meyers (Liverpool), Softball (added May 23)
Madison Rice (Greene/Greene Central), Field Hockey
Logan Streety (Elma/Iroquois), Basketball/Tennis
Bryn Thompson (Hopewell Junction/Arlington), Soccer
 
Men's Sport Rookie Athlete of the Year Finalists:

Culley Bellino (Canastota), Wrestling
Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa), Track and Field
Sam Cotton (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley), Football
Matthew Nochowitz (Glen Head/North Shore), Baseball
Jordan Ott (Fort Worth, TX/Southwest Christian), Soccer
Nolan Smith (Hamburg), Baseball
 
Women's Sport Rookie Athlete of the Year Finalists:

Taylor Goldstein (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West), Gymnastics
Katie Mahoney (Toronto, ON/York Mills Collegiate Institute), Ice Hockey
Ashley Melillo (Massapequa), Lacrosse
Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West), Volleyball
Reilly Quinn (Beekmantown), Track and Field

Senior Finalist Bios

Rookie Finalist Bios
 

Bruno received the Carl "Chugger" Davis Award, which is given to a senior male athlete for strong leadership skills and athletic achievement. Bruno is Cortland baseball's career leader in hits (245), home runs (31), RBI (187) and games played (213) (totals through April 29). Davis was Cortland's head football coach from 1932 to 1962 and also coached baseball, basketball and golf.
 
Donegan received the M. Louise Moseley Award, which goes to a senior female athlete who has demonstrated both strong leadership skills and athletic achievement. Donegan is the Cortland women's hockey career leader with 69 assists and second at Cortland with 33 career goals and 102 career points. Moseley was Cortland's Director of Women's Athletics from 1966-78. A pioneer for women's athletics, she played an integral role in the start of women's intercollegiate athletics at Cortland in the late 1960s.
 
Jillian Hlasnick (Olean/Portville) earned the Whitney T. Corey '43 Award, which is presented to the senior female student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average. A member of the women's ice hockey team, Hlasnick is a business economics major with a 3.87 GPA entering the spring semester. Corey coached men's basketball at Cortland in the 1950s and early 1960s and also served as the school's vice president for academic affairs. The main gymnasium in Cortland's Park Center bears his name.
 
Jack Riedell (Greensboro, NC/Northwest Guilford) received the Robert J. Weber Award as the senior male student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average. A member of the men's ice hockey team, Riedell is a sport management major with a 3.91 overall GPA entering the spring semester. Weber was Cortland's director of athletics for 12 years and the Chairman of the Men's Physical Education department for 15 years. He worked at Cortland from 1952-85.
 
CJ Johnson won the Peter J. Cahill '66 Award. The award, named for Cortland's former swimming and diving and women's tennis head coach, is presented to either a current student-athlete or non-athlete student for involvement in activities outside of sports and/or contributions to the Athletics Department. A native of Mechanicville, N.Y., Johnson served as head of social media for Cortland's football team and the student director of communications for ice hockey. He also contributed to the social media efforts of the Cortland Athletics Department as a whole.
 
The Unsung Hero Awards were presented to men's soccer player Riley Williams (Watertown/South Jefferson) and women's volleyball player Giovanna Rossi (Nichols/Tioga), both graduate students. The awards recognize accomplishments of student-athletes who led their team to success in ways that cannot always be measured in statistical categories and who exemplifies the characteristics of a true leader - excelling in the classroom, and demonstrating humility, work ethic and integrity at all times in both practice and competition.
 
The C-Club Coach of the Year Award was presented to football head coach Curt Fitzpatrick, who led the Red Dragons to a 14-1 record and the 2023 NCAA Division III title. Fitzpatrick was named the Division III National Coach of the Year by both the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the website D3football.com, as well as the regional coach of the year by both organizations. Fitzpatrick and his assistants were also recognized as the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year for the third straight year.

Cortland sports information director Fran Elia was announced as the winner of the Fraser Stokes Awards, given for dedication and service to Cortland Athletics. A C-Club Hall of Fame member, Elia is in his 33rd year at Cortland, including 32 as director. He previously received the Fraser Stokes Award in 1996.
 
The Judson and Elise Taylor Team GPA Awards, named after the former SUNY Cortland president and his wife, were presented to the men's and women's athletic teams with the highest cumulative grade point averages. The men's ice hockey team, with a cumulative GPA of 3.35, won the men's award for the seventh time, and the women's golf team, with a cumulative GPA of 3.48, won the women's award for the second time.
 
The "Record Breaking Performer" award was presented to football junior quarterback Zac Boyes, who set numerous school records during the 2023 season. His records included single season pass completions (271), passing yards (4,020) and touchdowns (44) as well as career marks for passing yardage (7,071) and passing touchdowns (73).
 
The Dragon Cup Champion award, given to a Cortland team based on their support of other Red Dragon teams, as well as community service, was presented to the women's golf team.

Each year, the Cortland head coaches select a Red Letter Award winner in their respective sports.  The Red Letter may be given for outstanding athletic skills, team leadership, personal development as a player, or for any combination of reasons. The 2023-24 Red Letter Award winners, by sport, are as follows:
 
Baseball: Adam Mieczkowski, Jr. (Vestal)
Men's Basketball: Kareem Lubin, Sr. (Monroe/Washingtonville)
Women's Basketball: Logan Streety, Sr. (Elma/Iroquois)
Men's Cross Country: $ Hunter Brignall, Gr. (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy)
Women's Cross Country: Adrienne Martin, Sr. (Cincinnatus/Norwich)
Field Hockey: Madison Rice, Sr. (Greene/Greene Central)
 
Football: Cole Burgess, Sr. (Greenwich)
Women's Golf: Claudia Winterberg, Jr. (Harrisburg, NC/Hickory Ridge)
Women's Gymnastics: Delaney Brown, Sr. (Peru)
Men's Ice Hockey: Nate Berke, Sr. (Williamsville/St. Joseph's College Institute)
Women's Ice Hockey: $ Dany Donegan, Gr. (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse)
Men's Lacrosse: Travis Moehringer, Sr. (Stony Brook/Ward Melville)
 
Women's Lacrosse: Holly Wright, Sr. (Huntington Station/Huntington)
Men's Soccer: Riley Williams, Gr. (Watertown/South Jefferson)
Women's Soccer: Jayden Kelley, Gr. (East Berne/Voorheesville)
Softball: Tori Reich, Sr. (Cornwall)
Men's Swimming and Diving: Kellen Dickman, So. (Montgomery/Valley Central)
Women's Swimming and Diving: Leah Bernhardt, Jr. (Groton)
 
Women's Tennis:  # Abby Madigan, Gr. (Endicott/Union-Endicott)
Men's Indoor Track and Field: Amarian Hughes, Sr. (Newburgh/Marlboro)
Women's Indoor Track and Field: % Danielle Fisk, Gr. (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima)
Men's Outdoor Track and Field: Mitchell Makowski, Gr. (Webster/Webster Thomas)
Women's Outdoor Track and Field: Autumn Pittman, Jr. (Spring Valley/Ramapo)
Women's Volleyball: Mikenzie Martens, Jr. (Carthage)
Wrestling: J.C. Cardenas, Sr. (Brooklyn/Grand Street Campus)
 
$ also won the award in 2022-23
# also won the award in 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23
% also won outdoor track and field award in 2021-22
 
 
 
(For information about individual award winners, please contact Cortland Sports Information Director Fran Elia at (607) 753-5673 or by e-mail at fran.elia@cortland.edu)