Cortland junior Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West), senior Jordan Ott (Fort Worth, TX/Southwest Christian), senior Katie Diem (Fairport) and sophomore Mike Rescigno (Arlington) have been honored as 2025 State University of New York (SUNY) Fall Scholar Athletes of the Year, while Pirrera, Ott and Diem also have been selected as State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Fall Scholar Athletes of the Year in their respective sports for the 2025 season.
 
Pirrera is an inclusive childhood education major who entered the fall semester with a 3.89 overall GPA. A women's volleyball outside hitter, she earned AVCA honorable mention All-America and first team All-Region 3 honors, and she was named the SUNYAC Women's Volleyball Player of the Year. She also was named to the CSC Academic All-District Team. Pirrera played in 114 sets over 32 matches and finished the season with 435 kills, a .226 attack percentage, 54 aces, 338 digs and 54 blocks. She helped the Red Dragons finish 24-8 (9-0 SUNYAC) and win both the SUNYAC regular-season and tournament titles for the fifth consecutive season.
 
Ott is a sport management major who had a 3.63 overall GPA prior to the fall semester. A men's soccer goalkeeper, he earned United Soccer Coaches fourth team All-America and first team All-Region 3 recognition, and he was named the SUNYAC Men's Soccer Defensive Player of the Year. A CSC second team Academic All-American, Ott started 21 games and played every minute in goal during the season...He recorded a 0.51 GAA, .891 save percentage, 90 total saves, 14-1-6 record and a school single-season record 13 shutouts, tying second nationally in Division III in shutouts, third in save percentage and seventh nationally in GAA. He helped Cortland finish 14-1-6 (7-0-2 SUNYAC), win SUNYAC regular-season title and advance to the third round of NCAA tournament.
 
Diem is a biology major who began the fall semester with a 4.0 GPA. A women's soccer defender, she was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Region 3 first team and the SUNYAC Women's Soccer Defensive Player of the Year. She also was honored as a CSC first team Academic All-American, was the SUNYAC's Elite 20 Award winner as the player with the highest GPA at the league championship site, and was named to the SUNYAC All-Tournament Team. She started all 21 games and finished the season with four goals and three assists for 11 points. Diem helped Cortland finish 14-3-4 overall (8-0-1 SUNYAC) and win both the SUNYAC regular-season and tournament titles.
 
Rescigno is a physical education major who had a 3.82 overall GPA prior to the fall. A football quarterback, he earned second team All-Empire 8 honors and was named to the CSC Academic All-District team. Rescigno started in all 11 games and completed 128-of-216 passes for 1,728 yards and 22 touchdowns and rushed 155 times for 1,068 yards and 12 scores. He set school single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback, and he helped the Red Dragons finish 8-3 (7-0 Empire 8) and win the conference title for the fifth straight year.
 
The SUNYAC Scholar Athlete Award winners are selected from each of the SUNYAC's 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 SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards recognized 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, recognized 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 will then be 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.