SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Brockport's Andrew Huffman and Geneseo's Nicolas Elia are the recipients of the 2023 SUNYAC Dr. Sam Molnar award. This award is nominated and voted on by the member institutions and is presented annually to a senior athlete with the best combination of academic and athletic ability with a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.30.

Huffman carried a 3.93 undergraduate GPA at Brockport and currently has a perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA in graduate school. He was chosen as the male recipient of the Brockport scholar-athlete award and was named a 2022 Academic All-American. Huffman was one of just six pitchers in all of NCAA Division III baseball to earn the award. Last spring, he was the first player in program-history to earn the SUNYAC Don Axtell Pitcher of the Year award. This spring on the field he was 3-0 on the mound in nine pitching appearances, earning a 2.18 ERA. With 40 strikeouts on the season he became the program's all-time leader in career strikeouts. Huffman threw a complete game victory in the SUNYAC Tournament on the way to a conference title in 2023. It was the program's sixth-ever title and the first since 2010.

Elia was named the 2023 Geneseo Athletics Scholar Athlete of the Year. He is a biochemistry major with a minor in the college honors program with a 4.0 overall GPA. Elia is the Vice Chair of the DEI committee of the Student Senate and Athletics DEI. He is also a researcher on green organic synthesis on quinoxalinones known as precursors to prospective cancer drugs using high field NMR. Elia was a four-year defenseman for the men's ice hockey team during that time he was part of a team that won two SUNYAC championships and he was a two-time NCAA participant including a National Runner-up finish. Elia was the recipient of the SUNYAC Elite 20 Award and is a Phi Beta Kappa honoree.

This award is named after the late Dr. Sam Molnar, who was the Director of Athletics at Potsdam for over thirty years. He also coached various sports during this period. He served as SUNYAC President during the 1962-63 and 1963-64 years. Click here to see past winners.