2025 SUNY Spring Scholar Athlete of the Year Honorees Announced
More than 25 student-athletes, including six SUNYAC student-athletes, are being honored with the SUNY Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards for combining academic achievement with success in the arena of athletic competition during the 2025 spring season.
The SUNY Spring Scholar Athlete Awards recognizes 28 student-athletes from SUNY colleges and universities sponsoring intercollegiate athletics at the four- and two-year levels who were nominated and voted upon by representatives of their respective institutions.
Nominating information includes cumulative grade point average, current and career statistics, and athletic and academic honors.
More than 14,000 student-athletes compete at SUNY institutions representing 53 different colleges and universities at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division III/USCAA and NJCAA levels and are eligible for the awards.
The four NCAA Division I member institutions that comprise the NCAA Division I Category for the SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards include University at Albany, Binghamton, University at Buffalo and Stony Brook, while 19 institutions make up the NCAA Division III/USCAA Category and include Alfred State, Brockport, Buffalo State, Canton, Cobleskill, Cortland, Delhi, Farmingdale, Fredonia, Geneseo, Maritime, Morrisville, New Paltz, Old Westbury, Oneonta, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Potsdam and SUNY Poly.
ESF, the lone four-year SUNY institution sponsoring intercollegiate athletics that is a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) instead of the NCAA, participates in the program with the 19 NCAA Division III members for a total of 20 colleges and universities.
The NJCAA Category features the 29 two-year community colleges spread out across the state of New York: Adirondack, Broome, Cayuga, Clinton, Columbia Greene, Corning, Dutchess, Erie, FIT, Finger Lakes, Fulton Montgomery, Genesee, Herkimer, Hudson Valley, Jamestown, Jefferson, Mohawk Valley, Monroe, Nassau, Niagara, North Country, Onondaga, Orange, Rockland, Schenectady, Suffolk, Sullivan, Tompkins and Ulster.
The SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards recognize outstanding academic and athletic success in 29 different sports and are presented three times a year to coincide with the specific sports contested in the fall, winter and spring seasons. The Scholar Athletes of the Year in each sport will then be nominated for an overall Scholar Athlete of the Year for men's sports and women's sports in each category that will be announced in mid-July.
The Fall Scholar Athletes of the Year were announced in January while the winter winners were released in April. The overall male and female Scholar Athletes of the Year in each division will be announced in July. Student-athletes will receive photo plaques commemorating their accomplishments.
Because sport sponsorship varies among institutions, a minimum sponsorship formula has been developed for award selections. At least three (3) institutions must sponsor the sport in the Division I category, while at least five (5) institutions must sponsor the sport in the SUNY Division III/USCAA and SUNY NJCAA categories. For sports that do not meet the minimum threshold to be a viable award, an at-large category has been developed for each level and each season.
The following SUNYAC student-athletes have been selected as the 2025 Spring SUNY Scholar Athlete Award winners for Division III:
Baseball - Tommy Kreider, New Paltz
Kreider repeats at the Division III SUNY Baseball Scholar Athlete of the Year after he was named to the 2025 ABCA/Rawlings fourth team and D3Baseball.com fifth team All-American. He became the first player in New Paltz's program history to be named to three consecutive first team selections, earning a spot on both the ABCA/Rawlings All-Region III first team and D3Baseball.com first team list. He was also the 2025 SUNYAC Bob Wallace Player of the Year, another first in program history. Kreider was named to the first team All-SUNYAC for the third time in his career, also the first in the history of the New Paltz Hawks baseball program. The senior helped lead his team to the No. 1 seed after he set season records in runs scored, doubles, stolen bases. He was the only player for the Hawks to start and appear in 42 of 42 games this spring. Kreider led New Paltz in 11 statistical categories: batting average (.439), OPS (1.206), games played and started, runs scored (63), hits (72), doubles (19), total bases (109), slugging percentage (.665), on-base-percentage (.541), walks (30) and stolen bases (37-for-39). In addition Kreider stood second in both at-bats (164) and triples (3).
Kreider earned a perfect 4.0 in his final semester and graduated with a 3.81 overall GPA as an accounting major at New Paltz. He was recently named the SUNYAC Baseball Scholar Athlete of the Year for the second straight year.
Mens' Lacrosse - Sean Kavanagh, Cortland
In 2025, Kavanagh was a USILA All-American second team honoree and he was named to the All-SUNYAC first team. He was on the All-Tournament team after helping the Red Dragons win the program's 29th overall SUNYAC men's lacrosse championship title. In 22 games played, Kavanagh totaled 48 goals, 31 assists and 79 points. He was first on the team in assists and second in goals and points. The team advanced to NCAA quarterfinals after winning the league championship.
Kavanagh is a physcial education major with a 3.54 overall GPA. He was named the 2025 SUNYAC Men's Lacrosse Scholar Athlete of the Year and was on to the SUNYAC Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll the last two years.
Women's Lacrosse - Lexi Atwater, New Paltz
Atwater was named the 2025 SUNYAC Women's Lacrosse Attacker of the Year as well as being named to the All-SUNYAC first team. She was also selected to the IWLCA first team All-Region III. This season, Atwater led the Hawks in goals with a career high 67 while tying for the top points (73). With 67 goals scored, she was 36th in the country along with second on the single-season program record books. Atwater's 73 points were the fourth most in the team's single season history.
Atwater had a 4.0 GPA in the spring and maintains a 3.96 cumulative GPA as a junior psychology major. She was voted the SUNYAC Women's Lacrosse Scholar Athlete of the Year and named to the SUNYAC Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll the last three years.
Softball - Julia Serena, Oneonta
Senior Serena became Oneonta's first softball All-American in program history in the 2025 season after being named to the third team. She was NFCA All-Region First Team, All-SUNYAC First Team, and the SUNYAC Julie Lenhart Player of the Year. Serena led the league with a .542 batting average, a .597 on base percentage and a 1.051 slugging percentage in conference competition. She was No. 1 with 32 hits, 26 RBI, 25 runs, nine doubles and seven homeruns in 16 conference games. Serena was also top in the SUNYAC in those categories over 39 total games - 60 hits, 43 RBI, 39 runs, 16 doubles and 10 home runs. She had season highs of seven RBI, six runs scored, five hits, two doubles and two home runs in her senior year. Serena was named to the SUNYAC All-Tournament team after the Red Dragons advanced to the championship round as the No. 5 seed and finished the tournament 3-2.
Serena maintained a 3.56 overall GPA as an exericse science /pre-nursing major. She was named the 2025 SUNYAC Softball Scholar Athlete of the Year. Additionally, she was part of Chi Alpha Sigma and CSC Academic All-District.
Women's Tennis - Isabel van der Veen, New Paltz
The senior, van der Veen, repeats as the Division III SUNY Women's Tennis Scholar Athlete of the year after. She was named to the SUNYAC first team in both singles and doubles this season and along side her partner (Justine Stanejko) was named the SUNYAC Doubles Team of the Year. She was named to the SUNYAC All-Tournament Team after helping her team win its third straight league title. This season, van der Veen competed at first doubles and went undefeated in SUNYAC play. She also competed at third singles with a 5-0 SUNYAC singles record, she allowed only four points.
In the spring semester van der Veen earned a perfect 4.0 GPA as a business analytics and digital media management major. She maintained a 3.85 overall GPA. van der Veen was selected as the 2025 SUNYAC Women's Tennis Scholar Athlete of the Year. She was the SUNY New Paltz President's Award Winner, a Chi Alpha Sigma Inductee and the 2024 SUNY Division III Women's Tennis Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Men's Outdoor Track & Field - Isaiah Brunache, Cortland
Brunache earns this honor for the second year in a row. In 2025, Brunache was the national runner-up in the shot put (school-record 18.21 meters/59' 9"). This season he was named the Niagara Region Division III Men's Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year and the SUNYAC Outdoor Championship Most Valuable Performer of the Meet (first in shot put, second in discus, fourth in hammer throw). Brunache was All-Niagara Region in the shot put and discus and the AARTFC champion in shot put and fourth place in discus.
Brunache is a junior exercise science major holding a 3.97 overall GPA at Cortland. He repeated as the SUNYAC Men's Outdoor Track and Field Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2025. He was also recently named the Division III SUNY and the SUNYAC Men's Indoor Track and Field Scholar Athlete of the Year.
