JAMESTOWN – It was another magical night in Jayhawk Athletics as student-athletes, coaches, administration, and family members gathered in the Student Union on the campus of Jamestown Community College for the annual Hawkie Awards Monday evening.

The Hawkies Awards is a special time where student-athletes are recognized for their accomplishments in their respective sport, their dedication in the classroom, and service within the community. Awards were determined based on their nomination and voted on by the coaches and athletic administration.

The first award presented was the Male Freshman Performance of the Year. Athletes were nominated for their individual performance during their championship season. This year’s winner was baseball player Timothy Johnson (San Tan Valley, AZ/Comb HS) who went 6-for-8 at the plate with two homeruns and seven RBIs as they Jayhawks took two from Tompkins Cortland Community College to complete the season sweep.

Other nominees included:

• Gavin Roux (MSOC): Roux made seven saves on seven shot attempts to help the Jayhawks go 3-0 on the week while being named NJCAA DIII Goalkeeper of the Week.

• Maxim Johnson (MSWIM): Johnson set four new school records and two regional records at the 2023 NJCAA Region 3 Swimming & Diving Championships while also earning the Region 3 Swimmer of the Meet and earning six First Team All-Region honors.

• Liam Conroy (eSports): Helped the Jayhawks to a 3-0 win over Northeast State CC. Conroy would be named Player of the Game with 24 kills and 3 deaths, unlocking the hero “Doomfist” days prior that he used with minimal practice.

• Luke Potts (WR): Bumping up a weight class against Niagara County CC, Potts won a 4-2 decision win which helped the team defeat Niagara County CC by a team score of 21-18, their first win against them over the past 20 years.

For the Female Freshman Performance of the Year, swimmer Madison Kramer (Falconer, NY/Falconer HS) earned All-American honors eight times at the 2023 Swimming & Diving National championships. Kramer would go on to be named the Non-Scholarship Swimmer of the Meet and Non-Scholarship Athlete of the Year.

Other nominees included:

• Reagan Chitester (WSOC): Chitester scored the game-winning goal against Tompkins Cortland Community College to secure their first win of the season.

• Sydney Ulasewicz (VB): In their regional game against Erie Community College, Ulasewicz orchestrated the defense, coming away with 23 digs to help the Jayhawks to a 3-1 win.

• Angelique Palacio (SB): In a doubleheader against SUNY Broome CC, Palacio went 6-for-6 at the plate with a triple, a homerun, four RBIs, and four stolen bases.

Moving onto the Male Sophomore Performance of the Year, we had a tie between wrestler James Rankin (Cleveland, OH/Garfield Heights) and golfer Anthony Gullo (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown NY). In their home dual against Niagara County CC, Rankin bumped up two weight classes where he came away with a 7-3 decision win, helping the Jayhawks defeat the Thunderwolves for their first team win against them in the past 20 years. Gullo’s performance came back in the beginning of the golf season where he was the medalist at the Panther Invitational with a round score of 71 and backed that up with a 71 at the Lazer Invitational to tie for first place honors.

Other nominees included:

• Tholo Malebo (MSOC): Scored one goal and added three assists as JCC defeated Erie CC 5-0.

• Gonzalo Luque (MBB): Helping the Jayhawks erase a 23-point deficit at halftime against Bryant & Stratton College-Syracuse, Luque scored 30 points including 9-for-11 from the free throw line.

• Kenny Nickson III (BB): In a four-game weekend against Corning CC, Nickson III went 9-for-12 at the plate with four doubles and seven RBIs for the season sweep against the Red Barons.

The performance of the Year awards was wrapped up with the Female Sophomore Performance of the Year where volleyball player Emma McCarthy (Olean, NY/Allegheny-Limestone Central) won with her performance at the 2022 NJCAA Region 3 Volleyball Championships. McCarthy tallied 51 kills in four matches while being named to the NJCAA Region 3 All-Tournament Team.

Other nominees included:

• Jenna Fiebiger (WSWIM): Fiebiger earned All-American honors in five events at the 2023 NJCAA Swimming & Diving Championships including four relay events that set four new school records.

• Hannah Hicks (WBB): In a game against Villa Maria College, Hicks recorded a triple-double scoring 14 points, grabbing 14 rebounds, and blocked 10 shots.

Earning the Team Academic Award this year was the men’s golf team. This award is given to the team that had the top GPA. This year’s golf team finished with a GPA of 3.5.

Moving onto the Female Ultimate Jayhawk of the Year Award, this award is given to the student-athlete that demonstrates dedication to their sport, academics, and community while embracing what it means to be a Jayhawk. This year’s winner is Hannah Hicks (Cleveland, OH/Cleveland Heights) of women’s basketball.

Other nominees included:

• Cadance Main – Volleyball
• Jenna Fiebiger – Women’s Swimming & Diving
• Savanna Krystofiak – Softball

For Male Ultimate Jayhawk of the Year Award, these student-athlets excelled in thei respective sports, dedicated within the classroom, and were pillars within the community. This year’s Male Ultimate Jayhawk of the Year Award winner is Nate Johnson (Jamestown, NY/Southwestern High) of baseball.

Other nominees included:

• Tiago Aguilar – Men’s Soccer
• Joseph Keyser – Men’s Swimming & Diving
• Tavi Riling – eSports
• Brock Johnson – Wrestling
• Traden Gray – Men’s Basketball & Golf

The next set of awards presented were the “Behind The Headlines” Award which represents a student-athlete that may not be the leading scorer, tally a bunch of hits, or make it on the front page of the paper but their energy in practice, support for the team during competition, and work ethic doesn’t go unnoticed.

This year’s Female “Behind The Headlines” Award winner goes to Nonjabulo Mathebula (Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa/St. Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls) of women’s basketball.

Other nominees included:

• Jolize Beukman – Women’s Soccer
• Rian Finch – Volleyball
• Hannah Eckert – Women’s Swimming & Diving
• Kylee Hennessy – Women’s Swimming & Diving
• Sydney Dahl – Softball

This year’s Male “Behind The Headlines” Award winner goes to Josh Carr (Wigan, England/Standish Community HS) of the men’s swimming & diving team.

Other nominees included:

• Owain Jones – Men’s Soccer
• Nkosinathi Dlamini – Men’s Basketball
• Alex Christy – Wrestling
• Chris Stebbins – eSports
• Riley Piazza – baseball
• Austyn Cummings – Men’s Golf

Taking a break from the awards, we transitioned into community service that was performed by our student-athletes throughout the year. Over 300 hours of service were dedicated to helping the community. Events that our student-athletes and coaches were involved with included Falconer Park pick up, Persell Middle School Day with the Jayhawks, Nolan’s Race, Salvation Army-Ringing of the Bell, trips to BOCES, and a trip to Fenner Elementary.

Back to the awards, the next to be presented was 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 in-season injuries that put a hurdle to their spectacular seasons. These injuries were truly devastating, but this did not deter them from doing their best to return as quickly as possible. This year’s Male & Female Iron Jayhawk Award winners were Joseph Keyser (Mayville, NY/Chautauqua Lake Central) of men’s swimming & diving and Cheznea Rivera (Franklinville, NY/Franklinville HS) of softball.

The last of the athletic awards to be presented were the Athlete of the Year awards. The Female Freshman Athlete of the Year Award this year was Madison Kramer of women’s swimming & diving.

Other nominees included:

• Reagan Chitester – Women’s Soccer
• Rian Finch – Volleyball
• Grace Lundmark - Women’s Basketball
• Angelique Palacio – Women’s Basketball & Softball

The Male Freshman Athlete of the Year Award winner was Maxim Johnson (Johannesburg, South Africa/King Edwards VII School) of men’s swimming & diving.

Other nominees included:

• Alex Watt – Men’s Soccer
• Luke Potts – Wrestling
• Timothy Johnson – Baseball

The Female Sophomore Athlete of the Year Award winner was Hannah Hicks of women’s basketball.

Other nominees included:

• Yuribeth Castro – Women’s Soccer
• Madison Johnson – Volleyball
• Jenna Fiebiger – Women’s Swimming & Diving

Finally, the last athletic award given out was the Male Sophomore Athlete of the Year Award with the winner being Wyatt Hennessy (Mukwonago, WI/Mukwonago HS) of baseball.

Other nominees included:

• Carlos Kramer – Men’s Soccer
• Brendon Ramsey – Wrestling

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

This year’s winners were:

Freshman Female Scholar Athlete – Hannah Eckert, Women’s Swimming & Diving

Freshman Male Scholar Athlete – Alex Watt, Men’s Soccer

Sophomore Female Scholar Athlete – Jill Kindberg, Women’s Basketball

Sophomore Male Scholar Athlete – Traden Gray, Men’s Basketball

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

This year’s Coaches Award winners:

You Can’t Outwork Me! – Mario Campo, Men’s Soccer

Never Give Up Award – Raena Bird, Women’s Soccer

For The Love Of The Game – Cadance Main, Volleyball

Most Dedicated Award – Josiah Ransom, Men’s Basketball

Lockdown Award – Chyann Kelly, Women’s Basketball

Grit Award – De’Aonte Hutchinson, Wrestling

The Hard Carry Award – Liam Conroy, eSports

Jayhawk Rising Star Award – Hannah Eckert, Women’s Swimming & Diving

Jayhawk Rising Star Award – Steven Zentz, Men’s Swimming & Diving

The Dirty Bird Award – Walt Rybczynski – Baseball

Ride or Die Trying Award – Cheznea Rivera, Softball

Perseverance Award – Austyn Cummings, Men’s Golf

During the night, the JCC Athletic Department acknowledged all of the student-athletes that have participated in athletics for two championships 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: Owain Jones, Kim Magidhi, Carlos Kramer, Josh Carr, Jesse Plaatjes, Josh Heim, Leonhard Kamann, Mario Campo, George Glover, Ethan Richardson, Tshepiso Ntuli, Tholo Malebo

Women’s Soccer: Yuribeth Castro, Holland Isaacson, Ireland Hagglund

Volleyball: Madison Johnson, Emma McCarthy, Claire Pumford, Breanna Gilbert-Hopkins

Men’s Basketball: Brian Fajardo, Traden Gray, Elgin Oliver, Gonzalo Luque

Wrestling: De’Aonte Hutchinson, Brock Johnson, Brendon Ramsey, James Rankin

Men’s Swimming & Diving: Joseph Keyser

Women’s Swimming & Diving: Jenna Fiebiger, Kylee Hennessy

Baseball: Chris Navarro, Nate Johnson, Riley Piazza, Walt Rybczynski, Tanner Potter, Kameron Melendez, Kenny Nickson III, Zach Rohlin, Minjong Seong, Alex Kemery

Men’s Golf: Anthony Gullo, Traden Gray, Noah Adams

Prior to the night’s end, the JCC Athletic Department recognized Jim Rissel as this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Jayhawk Award. This awrd was created to honor those who have made a significant and long-term impact on athletics here at Jamestown Community College. They have devoted more hours than can be counted to ensuring athletics here at JCC leaves a lasting impact on the student-athletes.

Rissel was appointed as the women’s basketball assistant coach prior to the 2012-13 season with then head coach George Sisson. After his time with the women’s program, Rissel followed Sisson over to the men’s basketball program where he has served as assistant coach over the past eight seasons.

Rissel then reconnected with Sisson on the golf course, serving as assistant coach for the past three seasons.

Outside of coaching, Rissel can be seen at many home events cheering on the Jayhawks whether it’s on the soccer pitch, on the wrestling mats, or at the softball and baseball fields.

Rissel also serves on many committees within JCC including the George Bataitis Open Golf Tournament and is the volunteer coordinator for the NJCAA Men’s & Women’s Golf Championship where he seeks out local community members to serve as hole spotters throughout the week-long tournament.

At the conclusion of the 2020-21 academic year, Rissel was presented the WNYAC Distinguished Person Award for his work with the GBO, golf nationals, and men’s golf team.

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