Cortland graduate student Amanda Squillini (Stony Point/North Rockland), sophomore Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) and junior Claudia Winterberg (Harrisburg, NC/Hickory Ridge) have been honored as 2023-24 State University of New York (SUNY) Spring Scholar Athletes of the Year, while Squillini, Brunache, graduate student Gina Meyers (Liverpool) and junior Emma Madigan (Endicott/Union-Endicott) have been chosen as State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Spring Scholar Athletes of the Year.
 
Squillini is the SUNY system's Division III honoree and the SUNYAC's award winner for women's lacrosse. Brunache received both honors for men's outdoor track and field. Winterberg is the SUNY winner for women's golf, Meyers is the SUNYAC winner for softball and Madigan is the SUNYAC winner for women's tennis. Madigan repeated as the SUNYAC women's tennis recipient.
 
Squillini earned a master's degree in teaching students with disabilities grades 1-6 this past May with a 4.0 overall GPA. She also had a 3.44 undergraduate GPA in physical education, graduating in December 2022. This past season, Squillini was named a third team All-America defender by USA Lacrosse and was a second team IWLCA All-Empire region honoree. She shared the team lead with 26 caused turnovers and was second with 43 ground balls in 20 starts, and she ranks sixth at Cortland with 95 career caused turnovers.
 
Brunache is an exercise science major with a 3.98 GPA. He was named the SUNYAC Outdoor Track and Field Championship Meet Most Valuable Performer after scoring 22 points at the meet with second place finishes in the shot put and hammer throw and a third place effort in the discus. He earned all-region honors in the discus, shot put and hammer throw, posted All-AARTFC finishes in the discus (fourth place) and shot put (fifth place), and competed at nationals in the discus (18th place) and shot put (20th place).
 
Winterberg is a business economics major with a 3.81 overall GPA. She earned first team All-Northeast Women's Golf Conference (NWGC) honors for the third straight year after placing third at the conference championship. She was league runner-up in 2022 and 2023. She scored 85 or better in 14 of her 15 rounds during the combined fall/spring season, including four rounds in the 70s.
 
Meyers earned a master's degree in teaching students with disabilities grades 1-6 this past May with a 3.86 overall GPA. She earned an undergraduate degree in December 2022 in childhood and early childhood education with a 3.36 GPA. Meyers was the SUNYAC Softball Co-Player of the Year and earned third team all-region honors after batting .425 with seven triples, 20 RBI, 36 runs and 10 steals in 37 games. She hit safely in 36 of her 37 games, including a school-record 33-game hitting streak that only three previous players in Division III history had surpassed prior to the 2024 season.
 
Madigan is a psychology major with a 3.98 overall GPA. A second-team All-SUNYAC honoree, she posted a 12-1 overall singles record (7-0 SUNYAC), primarily on the fifth flight, and was 10-3 in doubles action (7-0 SUNYAC), primarily at third doubles. Madigan earned the SUNYAC's Elite 20 Award as the player at the conference tournament finals site with the highest overall GPA for the second straight year.

The SUNYAC Scholar Athlete Award winners are selected from each of the SUNYAC's 22 sponsored sports. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must have a minimum overall grade point average of 3.30, be a starter or significant reserve on his or her team and have an academic class standing of sophomore or higher.
 
The Spring SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards recognize student athletes from SUNY colleges and universities sponsoring intercollegiate athletics at the four-year and two-year levels who were nominated and voted upon by representatives of their respective institutions. Nominating information includes cumulative grade point average, current and career statistics, and athletic and academic honors.
 
More than 14,000 student-athletes compete at SUNY institutions representing 53 different colleges and universities at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division III/USCAA and NJCAA levels and are eligible for the awards. The 19 Division III institutions in the SUNY system are: Alfred State, Brockport, Buffalo State, Canton, Cobleskill, Cortland, Delhi, Farmingdale, Fredonia, Geneseo, Maritime, Morrisville, New Paltz, Old Westbury, Oneonta, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Potsdam and SUNY Poly. SUNY-ESF, a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), participates in the program with the 19 NCAA Division III members for a total of 20 colleges and universities.
 
The SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards, which originated in the fall of 2022, recognize outstanding academic and athletic success in 29 different sports and are presented three times a year to coincide with the specific sports contested in the fall, winter and spring seasons. The Scholar Athletes of the Year in each sport are then nominated for an overall Scholar Athlete of the Year for men's sports and women's sports in each category that will be announced in mid-July. Because sport sponsorship varies among institutions, a minimum sponsorship formula has been developed for award selections. At least three (3) institutions must sponsor the sport in the Division I category, while at least five (5) institutions must sponsor the sport in the SUNY Division III/USCAA and SUNY NJCAA categories. For sports that do not meet the minimum threshold to be a viable award, an At-Large Category has been developed for each level and each season.