BENNINGTON, Vt. – The Southern Vermont College Department of Athletics celebrated its 2015-16 seasons Monday night at the College’s annual awards banquet, presenting the major laurels and inducting the SVC/Saint Joseph College Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2016 at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
Each of the four top award winners were multi-sport athletes as all three of the Hall of Fame inductees are current SVC coaches.
Mountaineer sophomore Marc Brandmeyer (Bennington, Vt.) was named the 2016 Southern Vermont Scott McKenzie Sportsman of the Year while senior Karina Meza (Los Angeles, Calif.) was voted as the 2016 SVC Scott McKenzie Sportswoman of the Year.
Southern Vermont senior Cameron Michael Curtiss (Milton, Vt.) took home the 2016 Mountaineer Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor, and junior Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.) claimed the 2016 Mountaineer Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year accolade.
Being inducted to the SVC/SJC Athletics Hall of Fame Class of ’16 was Kathleen Newton, SVC Class of 2004, Dave Gage, SVC Class of 2010, and Alyssa Davis, SVC Class of 2012. The three alumni are the 28th, 29th and 30th members inducted to the Hall while bringing the total of former student-athletes now inducted to 26.
Banquet Photo Gallery
Banquet Slideshow (Part 1)
Banquet Slideshow (Part 2)
The Scott McKenzie Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year, named after former the former SVC head coach and member of the SVC/SJC Hall of Fame Class of 2013, is presented annually to an individual who is all-inclusive in all aspects of the SVC athletics community with the strongest focus being on performance. Aside from performance, the other attributes that play a very important role in receiving the award are sportsmanship and leadership, both on and off the field, court, or course.
Brandmeyer had another stellar year for the SVC men’s cross country team, winning his second straight New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship back in October. He defended his title with a time of 26:19 on the 8,000 meter course which was a new record for the league’s championship meet. The sophomore also excelled in his first year of collegiate outdoor track & field, qualifying for both the Division III New England Championship and the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Championship in the men’s 3,000 meter steeplechase while also setting a new school record in the men’s 800 meter run.
Meza has a terrific senior season for the SVC women’s soccer team before playing her first year of collegiate softball in the spring. During the fall, she helped anchor a Mountaineer defensive unit that conceded just 1.28 goals per game in the team’s journey to its second straight NECC semifinal appearance. She was then named to the All-NECC First Team following the playoff run, and the senior defender was selected as the NECC Player of the Week once during the regular season. She scored three goals on the 2015 campaign, all being game-winners while two came in 1-0 Mountaineer wins. Meza earned her way to the 2015 NECC Fall Academic All-Conference Team while also being the College’s first-ever recipient of a College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District honor.
To be eligible for the Mountaineer Scholar-Athlete Award, a student-athlete must post a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.40 on a scale of 4.00 after the fall semester and must be a sophomore or higher in class standings. The laurel is not based solely on academic performance as it also focuses on the balance between student and athlete.
Curtiss capped a stellar collegiate career for both the men’s cross country and outdoor track & field teams, helping the former win its second straight NECC Championship as a captain of the team. He finished just two placements shy of making it onto the All-NECC Second Team at the October championship but was still selected to represent Southern Vermont on the NECC All-Sportsmanship Team. The creative writing major worked his way to his third straight NECC Fall Academic All-Conference Team, bolstering over a 3.8 grade point average in the classroom. Along with his exceptional performance in his course studies, Curtiss also published his first novel recently, “A Brother’s Love” that was produced by Shires Press Publishing Program.
Nesshoever continued her tremendous performance on both the athletic field and in her academic arenas, helping both the SVC women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse teams make it into the NECC postseason tournament. She has made it onto the NECC Fall Academic All-Conference Team for each of the last two years while also working her way to the 2015 NECC Spring Academic All-Conference Team; she is expected to earn her way to the 2016 NECC Spring Academic All-Conference squad, registering a GPA over 3.9 in the College’s biological sciences program. Nesshoever made it onto the 2015 NECC Women’s Soccer All-First Team, scoring nine goals – two being game-winners – while adding three assists. As of Monday, she had 27 goals, five assists, 30 ground balls, 31 draw controls, and 12 caused turnovers for the women’s lacrosse crew.
SVC/SJC Hall of Fame – Class of 2016
Kathleen Newton ‘04
Newton, who is also a third-year head coach for the Southern Vermont men’s and women’s cross country teams and the second-year head coach for the College’s outdoor track & field squad, graduated from SVC with an Associate in Science degree and still holds the Southern Vermont records for 5,000 meter and 6,000 meter races.
The Rensselaer, N.Y. native (Rensselaer High School) ran a 20:07 5K in 2002 at the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship and a 24:09 6K in the 2002 NCAA DIII New England Regional Championship. As a Mountaineer, Newton ran for head coach Scott Kilgallon and was named to the All-GNAC Team twice; she registered a third-place finish at the Conference championship in 2003 and a fourth-place finish in 2002.
Newton was named the Vermont Indoor Track Coach of the Year twice as the head coach of the Mount Anthony Union High School varsity boys’ and girls’ teams, collecting her second straight such honor in February of 2013. She led the Patriots to a third-place finish on the girls’ side that year and a fourth-place standing for the boys.
Dave Gage ‘10
Gage, who grew up in Gloversville, N.Y. (Broadalbin-Perth High School) was an outstanding four-year player for the Mountaineers’ baseball team from 2008-11 while also being a huge contributor to SVC’s men’s soccer program from 2008-10. He graduated in 2010 as the College’s valedictorian with his Bachelor’s of Arts degree in business administration/sports management in 2010 before returning to SVC to complete his athletic career and graduate again in 2011 with a bachelor’s in business administration.
Gage started in the second-most baseball games in program history (139) while having ended his playing career at second on the program’s all-time batting average chart (.305). He is still the team’s record holder for the highest career on-base percentage (.480), and he graduated with the second-most hits in SVC history (137). Additionally, he still sits at second for the most runs scored in team history (111) and graduated with the most walks worked by a Mountaineer (67). Gage took 82 hit by pitches – a mark that still sits atop the team’s record book – racking up 32 in 2011 to be the NCAA DIII statistical champion in the category. On the mound, he recorded the most saves in team history with nine.
Gage helped the SVC baseball team to the NECC playoffs in 2009, 2010 and 2011, going to the championship round with the Mountaineers in their first-ever title appearance in ’11. He also assisted the men’s soccer team in getting to the NECC postseason in 2009 and 2010, going to the league’s semifinals before falling in the championship game his senior year. He was named to the Association of Division III Independent’s Baseball All-American Second Team in 2008 before getting voted to the All-NECC First Team in 2011. Gage also earned his way to three straight NECC Academic All-Conference spring teams and two consecutive academic fall squads.
Alyssa Davis ‘12
Davis was a four-year member of the SVC softball team while also playing for four seasons with the Mountaineers’ women’s basketball squad, setting a slew of records for both programs. The Sutton, Vt. native (Lyndon Institute) was named the Scott McKenzie Sportswoman of the Year in both 2011 and 2012, becoming the first-ever SVC student-athlete to pick up the honor more than once. She was also named to the All-NECC Softball First Team in both of those years.
Davis graduated in 2012 with her bachelor’s degree in business administration/sports management after having played more softball games with the Mountaineer jersey than any other player before her. She tallied the second-best (.488 – ’11) and fourth-best (.462 – ’12) single season batting averages in program history, helping herself rank second on the team’s all-time average list with an outstanding mark of .434. She also turned in the best-ever on-base percentage, her .487 being 82 points higher than the second-best in the category. She racked up 55 hits to cap her career in 2012, helping herself total 152 while at SVC; that still sits as 54 more hits than the second-best tally as Davis is the only player in program history to break the 100 hits mark.
Additionally, she scored 47 more runs than any other SVC player, crossing the dish 104 times in her four years. Davis holds the Southern Vermont home run record with 17 dingers, and she also sits atop the RBI list with 75 runs driven in as a Mountaineer. She graduated as the team’s top walks leader (34), and she still sits as the program’s stolen bases leader with 63 swipes. On the hoops side of things, she graduated with two of the top-three best seasons for made three-pointers (42 in 2008-09, 38 in ’09-10) to conclude her tenure at SVC as the program’s most successful shooter from beyond the arc with 138 made threes.
Scott McKenzie Sportsman of the Year – Marc Brandmeyer (So. – Men’s Cross Country, Outdoor Track & Field)
Scott McKenzie Sportswoman of the Year – Karina Meza (Sr. – Women’s Soccer, Softball)
Mountaineer Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Cameron Michael Curtiss (Sr. – Men’s Cross Country, Outdoor Track & Field)
Mountaineer Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Lauren Nesshoever (Jr. – Women’s Soccer, Women’s Lacrosse)
Robert Consalvo Faculty Appreciation Award – Renee Merges
Sue Lamontagne Staff Appreciation Award – Becky Legacy
Southern Vermont College/Saint Joseph College Athletics Hall of Fame – Class of 2016
Kathleen Newton ’04 – Women’s Cross Country
Dave Gage ‘10 – Baseball, Men’s Soccer
Alyssa Davis ’12 – Softball, Women’s Basketball
Southern Vermont 2016 Team Awards
Baseball
Silver Slugger – RJ Pingitore
Cy Young – Dylan Angelo
Reliever of the Year – Chris Bradt
Men’s Basketball
Senior Award – Jeff James
Mountaineer Award – William Bromirski
Rookie of the Year – Josh Borders
Women’s Basketball
Most Valuable Player – Amber Flagg
Comeback Player of the Year – Shaniquewa Barnes
Senior Award – Kala MacKenzie
Men’s Cross Country
Most Valuable Runner – Marc Brandmeyer
Mountaineer Award – Cameron Michael Curtiss
Rookie of the Year – Noah Froh
Women’s Cross Country
Most Valuable Runner – Shelby Whitman
Most Improved Runner – Morgan Kaeppel
Rookie of the Year – Annika Kristiansen
Women’s Lacrosse
Most Valuable Player – Mel Orrell
Most Improved Player – Vanessa Kendall
Mountaineer Award – Sydnee Julian
Outdoor Track & Field
Track Athlete of the Year – Marc Brandmeyer
Field Athlete of the Year – Isaiah Backels
Mountaineer Award – Danielle Simmons
Men’s Soccer
Mountaineer Award – Sean Deegan
Rookie of the Year – Kieran Enright
Women’s Soccer
Most Valuable Player – Molly Madore
Mountaineer Award – Natalie Rose Canterbury
Softball
Most Valuable Player – Nicole Matthews
Coach’s Award – Rachel Robtoy
Golden Heart Award – Carissa Bottisti
Women’s Volleyball
Mountaineer Award – Sheilani Kaleopa
Defensive Player of the Year – Brin Goldman
Most Improved Player – Hailee Walker