JAMESTOWN – It seems like it has been a lifetime since the Jamestown Community College Athletic Department have all gathered at the end of an academic year to enjoy one’s company and celebrate the accomplishments of one another under one room.

The last year that the Jayhawks held their annual Hawkie Awards was at the end of the 2018-19 academic year and went to an online format during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But on Wednesday, May 11th, the Jayhawks all gathered in the nest for a night of fun to recognize our student-athletes for their accomplishments in the classroom, in competition, and within the community.

The night started off by recognizing on Greg Fish, former Executive Director of FSA and Athletic Director, with the Jayhawk Legacy Award. For those of you who are not familiar with Mr. Fish, he started his tenure at Jamestown Community College in 1980 where he served as the Executive Director of FSA. He was involved in a number of different roles while at JCC. One of those roles included serving as Athletic Director for the Jayhawks from 1991-200. While in that role, Fish served as the Region 3 Men’s Regional director from 1996-2013, he was the national committee chairman for men’s ice hockey, golf, basketball and swimming and diving. He also found himself involved as a member of the en’s bowling, baseball and soccer committees and national budget/finance committee.

Fish also served as the NJCAA Division III Men’s Baseball Tournament Director and DIII Men’s Golf National Championship Director. Greg was the reason why Men’s DIII golf received their own championship event and Jamestown Community College became the host site. JCC has now been hosting the NJCAA DIII Men’s Golf Championship for what will be 23 years this spring. 

After Fish left athletics, he worked solely as the Executive Director of FSA. In 2015 Fish decided it was time to take a break, but was still involved in a number JCC functions. Fish still serves on the George Batitis Open Golf Committee, and volunteers his day to help run that event. He continues to be a sounding board for the NJCAA DIII Golf National Championship Committee, continuing to provide guidance and growth to the long standing event. 

For over 30 years, and while wearing countless hats, Fish has been an asset and a voice for Jamestown Community College.  JCC Athletics would not be what they are today without his tireless dedication to the Jayhawk Way.

The night of awards recognizing the student-athletes started with the Male Performance of the Year based on their individual performances accomplished during their championship season.

The winner of the award was Brock Johnson of wrestling for his performance at the 2022 Northeast District Championships. In the finals, Johnson was down 9-1 and threw his opponent to get the fall to win the Northeast District Championship at 197 pounds.

Other nominees included:

• Matt Fennell 100 IM Record:  Fennell set a new school record in the 100 yard IM with a time of 1:03.29 at the 2022 Swimming & Diving National Championship.

• Wyatt Hennessy (BB) vs Broome CC: In the second game of a doubleheader against SUNY Broome Community College, Wyatt Hennessy helped the Jayhawks erase a 9-1 deficit after 3.5 innings of play where he went 4-for-5 at the plate including a triple and drove in seven runs as they Jayhawks went on to win, 13-12.

• Traden Gray (MGolf) at Jayhawk Invitational: Gray placed first at the 2022 Jayhawk Invitational held at the Chautauqua Golf Club, shooting a 74 on the par 72 course. Gray finished five strokes ahead of the next closest competitor to bring home the hardware.

For Female Performance of the Year, Tia Moppert of the women’s swimming & diving team was named the winner for her performance at the 2022 Swimming & Diving Championship. Moppert was named the Non-Scholarship Swimmer of the Meet where she became an All-American in one event and earned Honorable Mention All-American honors in six other events

Other nominees included:

• Hannah Hicks (WBB) vs Butler County Community College: Hicks scored 24 points while grabbing a career-high 30 rebounds.

Earning the Team Academic Award this year was the wrestling team. This award was given to the team that was top in GPA this past year. The wrestling team finished with a GPA of 3.093.

Moving to the next award, the Ultimate Jayhawk of the Year is given to the student-athlete that demonstrates dedication to their sport, team and who has embraced the culture of Jayhawk Athletics. This year’s female winner was Jessica Beehler of the women’s basketball team.

Other nominees included:

• Breanna Gilbert-Hopkins – Volleyball
• Heather Johnston – Softball

The Male Ultimate Jayhawk of the Year was awarded to Jesse da Costa of the men’s soccer team.

Other nominees included:

• Brendon Ramsey – Wrestling
• Yordangel Gonzalez – Baseball

The next award given was the Behind the Headlines Award. The Behind the Headlines award represents a male and female student-athlete that may not be the leading scorer, tally a bunch of hits or that makes par shots, but what they do in practice, their support for the team during competition and their work ethic doesn’t go unnoticed. 

This year’s Female Behind the Headlines winner was Emma Pumford of the volleyball team.

Other nominees included:

• Emma Redlecki – Women’s Cross Country
• Hannah Sholl – Women’s Soccer
• Sydney Burk – Women’s Basketball
• Emily Lyon – Women’s Swimming & Diving
• Lindsay Finch – Women’s Swimming & Diving
• Jolize Beukman – Softball

This year’s Male Behind the Headlines winner was Andrew Bungar of the wrestling team.

Other nominees included:

• Mario Campo – Men’s Soccer
• Josh Haigh – Men’s Soccer
• Josiah Ransom – Men’s Basketball
• Josh Bowmer – Men’s Basketball
• Billy Harmon – Baseball
• Trevor Harrington – Men’s Golf

The next award was given by our athletic trainer Dr. David Boyd called the Iron Jayhawk Award. The Iron Jayhawk award is presented to the student-athlete who shows the most determination, dedication, and “Iron Like” mentality to returning to competition following an injury. The recipients of this award have faced extreme adversity, and persevered through their physical injury and the accompanying mental and emotional stress of injury. Both the men’s and women’s Iron Jayhawk recipients suffered season-ending injuries that cut short their spectacular seasons. These injuries were truly devastating, but this did not deter them from doing their best to return as quickly as possible.

Tholo Malebo of the men’s soccer team was this year’s winner of the Male Iron Jayhawk Award. Jessica Beehler of the women’s basketball team was this year’s winner of the Female Iron Jayhawk Award.

For Female Athlete of the Year, these individuals rose to the occasion, showed heart, determination and grit. They represented women's sport in the best fashion possible and ignited their teams through the season. This year’s Female Athlete of the Year was Hannah Hicks of the women’s basketball team.

Other nominees included:

• Kaylee Constantino – Women’s Swimming & Diving

For Male Athlete of the Year, our male athletes compete at the highest level and assert themselves to be the best in the field. This year was no different. We have had the joy of watching these athletes give us their very best, day in and day out. This group of young men is both talented and dedicated, and have represented our school with class. This year’s Male Athlete of the Year was Ross Abram of the wrestling team.

Other nominees included:

• Tshipiso Ntuli – Men’s Soccer
• Colby Pantall – Men’s Swimming & Diving
• Ross Abram – Wrestling
• Bryce Jackson – Baseball

The Jayhawks also recognized their scholar athletes that meet the criteria of overall GPA, number of academic credit hours earned towards a degree and athletic participation.

This year’s winner were:

• Freshman Female Scholar Athlete – Madison Johnson, volleyball
• Freshman Male Scholar Athlete – Kim Magidhi, men’s soccer
• Sophomore Female Scholar Athlete – Rayenn Mechiz, volleyball
• Sophomore Male Scholar Athlete – Ben Livingston, men’s soccer

Each coach also presented an award to go to an athlete with each award having a distinct meaning towards that coach and team.

This year’s Coaches Award winners:

• Jayhawk Determination Award – Joey Pillittieri, men’s cross country
• Jayhawk Determination Award – Emma Redlecki, women’s cross country
• Nothing Can Stop Me – Tholo Malebo, men’s soccer
• Honey Badger – Lizzie Gordon, women’s soccer
• Circle of Excellence – Megan Cotter, volleyball
• Jayhawk Rising Star – Cole Carlson, men’s swimming & diving
• Jayhawk Rising Star – Jenna Fiebiger, women’s swimming & diving
• Spartan Mindset – Alex Christy, wrestling
• All Gas, No Brakes – Jafar Yahuza, men’s basketball
• Above & Beyond – Sudney Burke, women’s basketball
• Swag of the Year – Bryce Jackson, baseball
• Perseverance Award – Emily Horth, softball
• Approach to Win – Traden Gray, men’s golf

Prior to the night’s end, the JCC Athletic Department acknowledged all of the student-athletes that have participated in athletics for two championship seasons.

We would like to recognize the following student-athletes for their time, dedication, and commitment to JCC and their respective athletic program:

Men’s Soccer: Jesse da Costa, Ryan Koch

Women’s Soccer: Anna Burt, Hannah Sholl

Women’s Cross Country: Emma Redlecki

Volleyball: Emma Pumford

Women’s Basketball: Hannah Hicks, Jessica Beehler, Kymi Nance, Sydney Burk

Men’s Basketball: Jafar Yahuza, Josh Bowmer, Josiah Ransom

Wrestling: Andrew Bungar, Alex Christy, Ross Abram

Women’s Swimming & Diving: Jade Vidas, Tia Moppert

Men’s Swimming & Diving: Matt Fennell, Jackson Vanstrom, Colby Pantall

Baseball: Yordangel Gonzalez, Adonis Collado, Ayden Reagle, Wyatt Hennessy, Billy Harmon, Bryce Jackson, Lucas Porpiglia

Softball: Emily Horth, Samantha Heppel

Men’s Golf: Matt Fennell, Josh Brown

We would also like to give a special thanks to Director of Athletics George Sisson and Assistant Director of Athletics/Compliance Ashley Lund for steering the ship for yet another success year in Jayhawk Athletics.