BRONXVILLE, N.Y. - The Sarah Lawrence Athletics Department celebrated the 2024-25 school year with its annual Athletics Banquet on Friday, April 25th. Athletes from all sports were recognized for their contributions both in their respective sports and in the classroom, as awards were given out for sportsmanship, performance and academic success.

The night started with a welcome from Sarah Lawrence athletic director Kristin Maile, who also introduced the school's president, Cristle Collins Judd, to the stage. After an inspiring and uplifting message from President Judd, Sarah Lawrence's two student leadership advisors, Bradley Alexander and John Carroll, took the stage to introduce the awards for each of their respective groups. Alexander led off the awards by naming Leah Burrer as the recipient of the diversity, equity and inclusion award while Carroll would honor Simon Kopecky with the Gryphon Award. Kopecky and Burrer are both seniors slated to graduate with the SLC Class of 2025. Carroll also revealed the SAAC officers for the upcoming year, as men's basketball standout Braden Burman stayed on as the group's president, Colleen Coughlin was named as the vice president, multi-sport athlete Aidan Roney was named the secretary and women's volleyball's Madelyn Heavens was named as the Social Media Coordinator.

The team awards would comprise the majority of the evening as each team would award two players for their hard work over the year, the coaches award and a team MVP award. Award winners for each team can be found at the bottom of this story. Following the reveal of the team award winners, Sarah Lawrence honored their Skyline all-conference award winners from this past season, highlighting 14 all-sportsmanship team selections, 14 all-conference players, an Elite 19 award winner, two coach of the years and a Skyline Rookie of the Year from the SLC women's volleyball team.

Last, but certainly not least were the department awards, which consisted of newcomer of the year, athlete of the year and the Alice Stone Ilchman Awards for scholar-athletes of the year. Skyline women's volleyball rookie of the year Nikolet Vataj took home newcomer of the year for the women's sports while men's basketball sharpshooter Thomas Matonti took home the award for the men's sports. For athlete of the year it would be women's soccer's Daniela Perez to take home the honor following a spectacular season, earning her third all-conference first team bid. For the men's sports, volleyball standout Nate Davis would take home another athlete of the year award after leading the Gryphons in a wide range of statistical categories this season. Davis ranked atop the Skyline in a variety of statistical categories while leading the Gryphons to a program-best season. The final awards of the evening would be the Alice Stone Ilchman Scholar Athlete Award, which would be received by Josephine Laur and Ralph Calle-Schulz for their dedication to work in the classroom as well as in the pool and on the pitch/court. For a full list of award winners, please check below.

Department Awards

Newcomer of the Year: Nikolet Vataj (Women's Volleyball) and Thomas Matonti (Men's Basketball)
Athlete of the Year: Daniela Perez (Women's Soccer) and Nate Davis (Men's Volleyball)
Alice Stone Ilchman Scholar Athlete: Josephine Laur (Women's Swimming) and Ralph Calle-Schulz (Men's Soccer)


Skyline Awards

First Team All-Conference: Viktoria Balbin, Chloe Barker, Leon Bronshvag, Nate Davis, Athena Kazos, and Daniela Perez
Second Team All-Conference: Katey Beaver, Cora Colvin, Ella Hernan, Josephine Jackson, Eamon Kelly, Caitlin McCabe, Nikolet Vataj, Ali Xhafa
Skyline Elite 19 Winner: Brady Burman (Men's Basketball)
Skyline Rookie of the Year: Nikolet Vataj (Women's Volleyball)
Skyline Coaches of the Year: John Carroll (Women's Volleyball), Chris Ehmer (Men's Basketball)

Team Awards

Men's Soccer

• Coaches Award: Tamirat Soloman
• MVP Award: Benjamin Berkson

Women's Tennis

• Coaches Award: Melody Diaz
• MVP Award: Josephine Jackson

Cross Country

• Coaches Awards: Nat Skoczenski and Caitlin McCabe
• MVP Awards: Noah Carey and Ali Xhafa

Women's Volleyball

• Coaches Award: Georgi Massey
• MVP Award: Kaille Ferguson

Equestrian

• Coaches Award: Maeve Lamson
• Rasky Award: James Chipperfield

Women's Soccer

• Coaches Award: Katey Beaver
• MVP Award: Bella Vaca

Swimming and Diving

• Coaches Awards: Jonas Ellwanger and Josephine Laur
• MVP Award: Patrick Rau and McKenzie Shaffer-Kay

Men's Basketball

• Coaches Award: Braden Burman
• MVP Award: Eamon Kelly

Women's Basketball

• Coaches Award: Ariana Spanopoulos
• MVP Award: Gabby Hudson

Men's Tennis

• Coaches Award: Peter Fathi
• MVP Award: Simon Kopecky

Softball

• Coaches Award: Kyra Johnsen
• MVP Award: Isabella Boissonnault

Men's Volleyball

• Coaches Award: Sam Saldarelli
• MVP Award: Nate Davis