Mansfield, Mass. – Le Moyne College junior Kacper Piekarek (Wroclaw, Poland/Autorskrie Licea Artystyczne Akademickie/Missouri-Kansas City) and sophomore Tyler Birdd (Elma, N.Y./Iroquois) have been named the 2020-21 Northeast-10 Conference Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award recipient for their respective sports, as announced by the conference office on Thursday.
Piekarek received the award for men’s tennis and Birdd was the men’s golf recipient. The duo are the 23rd and 24th Le Moyne student-athletes to earn the honor over the 13 years (37 seasons) of the program.
An economics major with a 3.799 GPA, Piekarek is the second straight Dolphin men’s tennis student-athlete to receive the award after Jared Howard last year. This marks his third academic award of the year. He was selected to the NE10 All-Academic Team in his first year of eligibility two weeks ago and was named the NE10 Elite 24 recipient at the NE10 Championship.
On the court, he went 20-3 in singles action, including 17-2 in dual matches as the Dolphins won the NE10 Championship for the second straight year and advanced to the NCAA Championships round of 16 for the first time in the program’s history. His 20 victories are the second most in a season in the program’s history. He finished the season on a 16-match win streak.
A biochemistry major with a 3.874 GPA, Birdd is the third Dolphin men’s golf student-athlete to be named the Sport Excellence Award recipient (Aidan Fuller ’16 in 2015 and 2016 and Nicholas Barney ’20 in 2019). He earned NE10 All-Academic Team honors in his first year of eligibility two weeks ago.
An NE10 All-Conference Second Team and GCAA/PING All-Region selection for the second straight year, he led the Dolphins with a 74.9 scoring average over 23 rounds at 10 events. He finished par or better in three rounds and placed in the top-five at four events. He tied for third at the NE10 Championship to earn All-Championship Team honors with a season-best score of 145. He placed fourth in a field of 116 at the NCAA Regional Preview.
The Northeast-10 Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Awards recognize student-athletes that have excelled both on the field of play and in the classroom. To be eligible, a student-athlete must have completed at least two consecutive semesters of full-time enrollment at their current institution, two total years of athletic eligibility, and maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of a 3.30.
The NE10 Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence awards are chosen by a vote of a committee of athletic administrators and Faculty Athletic Representatives (FAR). The Northeast-10 will honor one student-athlete per conference-sponsored sport each year with a total of 24 Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award winners during the course of the academic year. The conference announced the fall and winter sport winners following the completion of their respective seasons.
Le Moyne Sport Excellence Award Winners
Drew Acquaviva – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Winter 2010-11
Jack Venditti – Men’s Lacrosse – Spring 2010-11
Drew Acquaviva – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Winter 2011-12
Josh Klepfer – Men’s Lacrosse – Spring 2011-12
Scott Thieke – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Winter 2012-13
Josh Klepfer – Men’s Lacrosse – Spring 2012-13
Keleenna Onyeaka – Men’s Soccer – Fall 2014-15
Tim Buff – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Winter 2014-15
Aidan Fuller – Men’s Golf – Spring 2014-15
Maggie Monnat – Women’s Lacrosse – Spring 2014-15
Tim Buff – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Winter 2015-16
Aidan Fuller – Men’s Golf – Spring 2015-16
Maggie Monnat – Women’s Lacrosse – Spring 2015-16
Logan Thomas – Men’s Lacrosse – Spring 2015-16
Tim Buff – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Winter 2016-17
Courtney Case – Softball – Spring 2016-17
Josiah Gray – Baseball – Spring 2017-18
Bryanna Fazio – Women’s Lacrosse – Spring 2017-18
Niklas Breunung – Men’s Soccer – Fall 2018-19
Nicholas Barney – Men’s Golf – Spring 2018-19
Bryanna Fazio – Women’s Lacrosse – Spring 2018-19
Jared Howard – Men’s Tennis – Spring 2020-21
Tyler Birdd – Men’s Golf – Spring 2021-22
Kacper Piekarek – Men’s Tennis – Spring 2021-22
