CAMDEN, NJ (May 10, 2016) – Junior golfer Kevin Sarlo and senior basketball player Kamari Talley captured Male and Female Athlete of the Year honors, women's basketball coach Annette Reiter was named the Edward C. Cialella Coach of the Year, graduating men's tennis captain Jason Lin earned the Wilbur W. Wilson Scholar-Athlete Award and sophomore golfer Sean Sanchirico was honored with the William P. Carty Memorial Award as the Most Courageous Athlete to highlight the annual Rutgers University-Camden Athletic Awards Banquet Tuesday night at the Adventure Aquarium.

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The school also recognized athletes honored as the Most Valuable Players and Most Dedicated Players in 19 sports, as well as 58 Senior Award winners. The Senior Awards are given to student-athletes who have either exhausted their eligibility in a particular sport or are graduating.
   

A total of 21 Senior Awards went to players from the baseball and men's soccer programs, with 11 coming from the baseball team in Joe Brooks, Kyle Gaff, Andrew Gottstein, John Griffin, Billy Jackson, Matthew McElhatton, Alex Scarlett, Chris Scarlett, Joe Sigismondi, Ryan Sullivan and Brett Tenuto. The 10 Senior Award winners from men's soccer included Christian Aguirre, Ramadan Bayyan, Ray El-Khoury, Connor Hurff, Riquan King, Derek Lynch, Emilio Rodriguez, Mike Ryan, Derek Shearer and Grant Taylor.  Taylor also lettered in indoor track as a senior.
 
Eight members of the lacrosse program received Senior Awards, including Holly Cusick, Tori Gerstenacker, Cecilia Gross, Traven Harris, Breanna Heifet, Katie Horneff, Alexa Rocks and Krystal Valianti. Gerstenacker also was among the six Senior Award winners with the women's soccer program, joining teammates Kelly Barbone, Lauren Celona, Lacey Stackhouse, Kelsey Tierney and Casandra Torres.
 
Three Senior Award winners for men's basketball also received that honor for men's cross country: Jonathan Baker-Jernigan, John Tatem and Shaun Thomas, while Rob O'Brien was a Senior Award winner in cross country and joined Trey Gilliard, Tahshon Reese and Omar Samaniego for senior accolades on both the indoor and outdoor track programs.
 
Two-sport Senior Award winner Olivia Rowland was cited for her contributions to both the volleyball and the rowing programs, joining volleyball seniors Sydney Allen, Kristin Bellamy and Brooke Hassan and crew team members Geoffrey Chmura, Gregory Barry, LeeAnn Still and Melissa Price.
 
Talley was the lone Senior Award winner with women's basketball, while Justin Parisien was the lone golf senior. The softball team featured a trio of Senior Award winners in Lindsay Day, Katie Larson and Brittany Scott, while the tennis teams had one Senior Award winner for the women in Amanda Hickman and three for the men: Drew Delengowski, Lin and Onkar Singh.
   

Two athletes were honored as the Most Valuable Player with a pair of programs. For the second consecutive year, Rowland was the MVP for both the volleyball team during the fall semester and women's rowing in the spring. Sophomore Brianna Kearse captured MVP honors for both the women's indoor and outdoor track programs.
 
In addition to Rowland, other fall sport honorees included Hickman, who captured her fourth straight MVP honor in women's tennis, and Ryan, who earned his second men's soccer MVP honor in three seasons. Junior Millie Kipp earned her third straight MVP award for women's cross country, while sophomore Richard Campolungo won MVP honors for men's cross country and sophomore Aubrey Andrews captured MVP recognition for women's soccer.
 
Joining Kearse as an indoor track MVP was men's freshman Cameron Dobbins. The basketball MVPs were Talley for the women and sophomore Abby Bah on the men's side.
 
During the spring season, Scott and Sarlo captured their third consecutive MVP honors for softball and golf, respectively. Jackson earned the baseball MVP honor and Heifet was the lacrosse team MVP. Joining Rowland as a rowing MVP was junior Phil Pilat, who repeated his men's team MVP honor from a year ago. Kearse not only swept the indoor and outdoor track MVP honors, she earned her second straight MVP award for the outdoor season. On the men's side, meanwhile, O'Brien was the outdoor track MVP for the second consecutive season.
 
The men's tennis MVP was Lin, adding to his haul as the school's Wilbur W. Wilson Scholar-Athlete.
   

For the third consecutive season, Valianti captured honors as the Most Dedicated lacrosse player.
 
The Borda-Sheehan Memorial Award, which is given to the Most Dedicated Soccer Players, went to Barbone on the women's team and Bayyan for men's soccer.
 
The Samuel Strauss Memorial Award, which goes to the Most Dedicated Basketball Players, was given to women's sophomore Cara Racobaldo and to Baker-Jernigan with the men's program. Baker-Jernigan also captured Most Dedicated honors for men's cross country, giving him a unique double-double.
 
The Billy Carty Memorial Award, handed out to the Most Dedicated Baseball and Softball Players, went to freshman Kacie Pisani in softball and to Gaff for baseball.
 
The Barry M. Millett Memorial Award as the Most Dedicated Golfer went to junior Zach Arsenault.
 
Bellamy earned honors as the Most Dedicated Player with the volleyball program, while the indoor track winners were a pair of freshmen in Shontiana Butcher and Drew Harper. In outdoor track, Samaniego captured Most Dedicated honors for the men's program, while freshman Courtney Childress earned the women's team honor.
 
Price captured her second consecutive honor as the women's rowing Most Dedicated Player, while Barry earned the honor for the men's team.
 
The men's tennis Most Dedicated Player was junior Ryan Christopher. Hickman, in addition to winning her fourth straight women's tennis MVP honor, also was named the Most Dedicated Player for the women's program.
   

Talley had a banner season on the basketball court on her way to capturing New Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Year and D3hoops.com All-America Third Team honors. She became only the fourth player in program history to earn All-American honors, and the first since Cheryl Kulesa during the 2002-03 season.
 
Talley also captured ECAC Division III Metro Player of the Year honors and was named the D3hoops.com Atlantic Region Co-Player of the Year, in addition to earning First Team honors on the NJAC, ECAC Metro and Atlantic Region squads.
 
Talley finished among the NCAA Division III national leaders in numerous categories, including seventh in rebounding (13.1 rpg), third in offensive rebounding per game (6.0) and 17th in scoring (20.6 ppg). Her 20 double-doubles (in only 23 games) ranked sixth among all NCAA Division III players. She led the NJAC in rebounding, offensive rebounding and double-doubles and finished second in scoring.
 
Talley collected the 12th-highest single-season point total in program history (473) and the 10th-highest rebound total (302). She notched a career-high 38 points against Bryn Athyn College (Jan. 4) and set a Rutgers-Camden single-game record of 30 rebounds against William Paterson University (Dec. 12).
 
Talley was named the NJAC Player of the Week five times, added three ECAC Division III Metro Player of the Week honors and led her team to a 15-11 record and its first berth in the NJAC playoffs since 2003.
 
A junior college transfer who was an All-American as a sophomore at Camden County College, Talley collected 1,422 points (18.2 ppg) and 894 rebounds (11.5) in her combined collegiate career. In 38 games at Rutgers-Camden, she scored 694 points (18.3 ppg) and grabbed 439 rebounds (11.6 rpg).
   

Sarlo was forced to miss the Rutgers-Camden Athletic Awards Banquet, but wouldn't have it any other way, as he was competing with his team in the first round of the NCAA Division III Golf Championships in Rochester, New York, finishing the first day of competition tied for third nationally.
 
A three-time team MVP and quite possibly the finest golfer in Rutgers-Camden history, Sarlo has been a North Eastern Athletic Conference First Team player in each of his three years with the Scarlet Raptors. He has led Rutgers-Camden to the NEAC title each year and, entering Tuesday's first round at the NCAA Championships, he owned a 77.0 average in 47 career rounds as a Scarlet Raptor.
 
The first Rutgers-Camden player to ever win ECAC Division III Golfer of the Month honors when he accomplished the task last October, he added ECAC Division III Co-Golfer of the Month recognition in March.
 
Last fall, Sarlo averaged 73.6 in five rounds, was the overall medalist at three invitationals and captured four honors as the NEAC Golfer of the Week. This spring, he carried a 74.5 average through six rounds, entering the NCAA Championships, was the NEAC Golfer of the Week on March 22 and was the overall medalist at two of the Raptors' five invitationals. He also finished second on two occasions and tied for fifth at the other invitational.
 
Over the course of his career, Sarlo has won 10 honors as the NEAC Golfer of the Week, capturing at least one honor in each of his six semesters.
   

The Coach of the Year Award is presented in honor of Dr. Edward Cialella, who retired in December, 2002, after five years as the school's athletic director. He joined the faculty in 1969 as a member of the physical education department and over the years he coached Rutgers-Camden programs in both men's and women's basketball and tennis. From 1969-97, he served as the school's director of recreation and intramurals and he chaired the physical education department from 1994-98. The Coach of the Year Award is presented to one coach nominated by the Rutgers-Camden Athletic Department who has displayed responsibility, integrity, sportsmanship and excellence, both on and off the field.
 
Reiter certainly fits the criteria, from her role coaching the women's basketball program to her duties as the Athletic Academic Coordinator for Rutgers-Camden student-athletes.
 
In only her third season as the Rutgers-Camden women's basketball coach, Reiter guided her team to a 15-11 record and helped the Scarlet Raptors qualify for their first New Jersey Athletic Conference playoff berth since the team won the NJAC title during the 2002-03 season. The Scarlet Raptors also reached the ECAC playoffs for the first time since the end of the 2001-02 campaign.
 
Reiter's program has been steadily improving in her three years at the helm. After posting a 5-19 overall mark, including an 0-18 conference record, during her first season in 2013-14, the team climbed to 9-16 and 5-13 during the 2014-15 campaign. This year, led by senior All-American Talley and a good, young, surrounding nucleus, the Scarlet Raptors went 15-11 overall for only their second winning season since 2002-03. They had a 10-8 conference record for their first winning NJAC mark since that 2002-03 team.
 
Reiter becomes the first women's basketball coach to capture Rutgers-Camden's Coach of the Year honor since Jackie Trakimas earned the award after leading the 2002-03 team to the first NCAA tournament berth in school history.
 
 

 
The William P. Carty Memorial Award is given annually to Rutgers-Camden's Most Courageous Athlete. It is presented in memory of the late Billy Carty for his courage, fortitude and dedication as a member of the baseball program despite struggling to overcome a fatal illness.
 
Sanchirico certainly went through his struggles, which began before his senior year at Paul VI High School when he started feeling ill. His condition continued through illness, weight loss and numerous medical visits. Throughout the ordeal he continued soccer and golf at Paul IV as best he could. He joined the Rutgers-Camden golf team as a freshman during the 2013-14 scholastic year, where he played one competitive round during both the fall and spring seasons at the Scarlet Raptors' home invitational.
 
Sanchirico started his sophomore season with the Scarlet Raptors during the fall of 2014 and played another competitive round at the Richard Stockton Invitational Sept. 24, but illness and double vision prompted a visit to an ophthalmologist, who noticed a problem. Sanchirico was taken to the University of Pennsylvania's hospital for a MRI, which revealed a massive brain tumor. Less than two weeks after his round of collegiate golf at Stockton, he was undergoing 8-1/2 hours of surgery on Oct. 6. His surgery was followed by weeks in intensive care, radiation therapy and rehabilitation, building up his motor skills from learning to walk again to playing golf.
 
Sanchirico finally returned to the Rutgers-Camden golf program during the fall of 2015 with his sophomore eligibility restored, and played his first competitive round at the RU-Camden Scarlet Raptor Fall Golf Invitational on Oct. 26. This spring, he played three rounds for the Scarlet Raptors, averaging 90.7. He carded a 92 at the season-opening Myrtle Beach Shootout (March 16), shot a 93 at the Stockton Invitational (March 30) and had his best round of the semester with an 87 at the RU-Camden Scarlet Raptor Spring Golf Invitational (April 4).
 
In seven career rounds, Sanchirico owns a 91.9 average at Rutgers-Camden, but the inspiration he has provided to his teammates and everyone around him is immeasurable, earning him the William P. Carty Memorial Award as Rutgers-Camden's Most Courageous Athlete.
   

The Wilbur W. Wilson Scholar Athlete Award is presented in honor of the late Athletic Director, Wilbur "Pony" Wilson, whose dedication, integrity and accomplishments guided the Rutgers-Camden Athletic Department for 28 ½ years. The award is a testimony to his resolve to have athletes display excellence not only on the playing field, but also in the classroom. The recipient of this award is the senior athlete with the highest accumulative academic average of 3.25 or above, while meeting a two-year academic criteria.
 
Lin, the 2016 award winner, personifies all of the best attributes of a student-athlete. Academically, he owns a 3.92 GPA as a Biology major and is part of a joint/dual agreement between Rutgers University and Rowan University, where he will obtain his BA and DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) degree in seven years, including the first three at Rutgers.
 
A Dean's List student every semester and an Honors College member, he was a member of Rutgers-Camden's inaugural Athletic Director's Honor Roll during the fall 2015 semester. He has been honored for his academics by two conferences over his career, earning North Eastern Athletic Conference Scholar Athlete recognition in 2014 and being named to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Academic All-Conference Team last spring.
 
The 2016 captain of the men's tennis program, he helped Rutgers-Camden earn its first berth ever in the GNAC semifinals this spring, where he earned a berth on the all-tournament team. He already captured team MVP honors earlier this evening. When the conference announced its post-season awards earlier today, he was named to the GNAC All-Sportsmanship Team, helping Rutgers-Camden win the prestigious Institutional Sportsmanship Award.