Last week at the Rochester Athletics awards banquet, six athletes were honored with department wide awards highlighting their work on the field as well as off it in both in the classroom and in the community.

Five seniors and one junior were honored with awards and the dinner with senior men's basketball player John DiBartolomeo winning the Louis Alexander Alumni Award and senior women's soccer player Bridget Lang taking home the Merle Spurrier award highlighting the night.

Senior kicker Alex Antonucci from the football team earned the John Vitone Award and junior midfielder Katie Flaschner of the field hockey squad took home the Sylvia Fabricant award.

Men's soccer defender Jakob Seidlitz and field hockey forward Shelby Hall earned the scholar athlete awards for their achievement in the classroom during their four years at UR.

Louis Alexander Alumni Award: John DiBartolomeo (Westport, CT/Staples)
John capped off an amazing career on the hardwood for the Yellowjackets, finishing the 2012-13 season being named a consensus 1st Team All-American, including being named National Player of the Year by D3hoops.com and DIII News.  He was a two time UAA Player of the Year (2011, 2013) and three time 1st Team All-Conference player and Rookie of the Year in 2010.  He is one of two people in the history of the Wendy's Classic to be named 1st Team All-Tournament all four years.  John also finishes his historic UR career 3rd in All-Time scoring (1779), 2nd in assists (533), 2nd in steals (201) and 2nd in free throws made (520).  Off the court, DiBartolomeo is a member of the NABC Honors Court while also being a part of the Alpha Kappa Psi Business Fraternity and a member of the St. Sebastian Society.

Merle Spurrier Award: Bridget Lang (Robbinsville, NJ/The Peddie School)
Bridget won four letters on the women's soccer team, starting three years in goal.  The two-time team captain was named 1st Team All-UAA as a senior, keeping the Yellowjackets in many games this season.  She was named the team MVP and was an All-East Region 2nd Team member.  Bridget was also a 4th Team All-East Scholar Athlete while earning a Garnish Scholar Award from Rochester in the fall.  Off the field, she is a member of VSAAC, organizer of the Yellowjacket Cup and representative to Grassroots Rochester.

John Vitone Award: Alex Antonucci (New York, NY/Loyola School)
Antonucci won three letters for UR as the kicker on the football team.  He ranks 3rd in school history with eight field goals in one season and was 100% (5-5) on onside kick attempts in his career.  He was named 2nd Team All-Liberty League following the 2011 season, the same year he was the UR Special Teams Player of the Year.  From his Head Coach Scott Greene "Never in my coaching career have I ever witnessed a player who encouraged his teammates as much as Alex did, always positive and rooting his teammates on during the game."

Sylvia Fabricant Award: Katie Flaschner (East Amherst, NY/Nichols School)
Katie, a junior, was the team captain for this years field hockey team which reached its first ever NCAA Tournament, earning a berth into the Elite 8 with upset wins over #12 Rowan University and #4 Salisbury University.  Flaschner was a 1st Team All-Liberty League selection this season while also being named 1st Team All-Region and 3rd Team All-American by the NFHCA.  Head Coach Wendy Andreatta on Flaschner "I have never encountered a student-athlete like Katie in all my years of playing and coaching sports. She is the first to reach out to a struggling teammate.  She is the first to shake the hands of her opponents and she is the first to ask what she can do to help her team, her fellow students, her community and beyond."

Male Scholar Athlete: Jakob Seidlitz (Vienna, VA/Georgetown Day)
The senior defender for the men's soccer team had a 3.7 GPA in his Brain and Cognitive Science major in addition to being a three year starter and four year letterwinnner for the Yellowjackets.  He helped lead UR to three NCAA Tournaments, one UAA title and one NCAA Elite 8 appearance.  He was a 2-time All-UAA selection and was Named All-Region in 2012.  He was a 3-time UAA All-Academic selection, 2-time All-Region Scholar Athlete and Capital One Academic All-District.  He was named to the Dean's List every semester at UR and finished with a perfect 4.0 GPA this past fall semester.  He is a UR Garnish Scholar, Provost Circle Scholar and Keidaeans Senior Honor Society member.

Female Scholar Athlete: Shelby Hall (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg)
Shelby was a four year starter for the Yellowjacket field hockey team in addition to finishing with a 3.93 cumulative GPA in her Molecular Genetics major.  She helped Rochester to its best season in school history and first ever NCAA Tournament appearance while also setting personal career highs in goals (17) and assists (9).  She was a 1st Team All-Liberty League selection and 2nd Team All-Region choice in addition to being selected to play in the NFHCA Senior All-Star game at the NCAA DIII Final Four.  She finished her UR career 1st in total games played (78), 4th in career points (93) and game winning goals (11) while finishing 5th in career goals (37) and 6th in assists (19).  Off the field Shelby is a member of the Keidaean Senior Honor Society member in addition to being a Garnish Scholar, Provost's Circle Scholar and member of the Golden Key Honor Society.  She also was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in the spring of 2013.