Cortland senior men’s cross country runner Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) and junior women’s volleyball libero Mikenzie Martens (Carthage) have been honored as both State University of New York (SUNY) and State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Fall Scholar Athletes of the Year in their respective sports for the 2023 season.
Brignall is a physical education major with a 3.74 overall GPA at the conclusion of the fall semester. He earned SUNYAC Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Year honors and placed fourth at the NCAA regionals to earn All-Niagara Region recognition. Brignall was the top SUNYAC finisher at the NCAA Division III Championships with a 108th-place showing. He also finished fourth at the SUNYAC Championships to earn first-team all-league honors and a spot in the SUNYAC Cross Country Hall of Fame, and he won the title out of 278 runners at the Rowan University Border Battle during the regular season.
Martens is a physical education major who completed the fall semester with a 3.99 overall GPA. She earned honorable mention All-America honors and first-team All-Region 3 recognition from the American Volleyball Coaches Association, and she was chosen as the SUNYAC Defensive Player of the Year as well as to the all-conference first team. Martens earned spots on both the SUNYAC and NCAA Regional all-tournament teams. Earlier this month, Martens was named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Division III National Academic All-America third team – the first Cortland women’s volleyball player to earn an Academic All-America award. She finished the season with 502 digs (5.1 per set) and a .970 serve reception percentage and helped Cortland win its third straight SUNYAC title.
The SUNYAC Scholar Athlete Award winners are selected from each of the SUNYAC’s sponsored sports. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must have a minimum overall grade point average of 3.30, be a starter or significant reserve on his or her team and have an academic class standing of sophomore or higher.
The SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards recognized student athletes from SUNY colleges and universities sponsoring intercollegiate athletics at the four-year and two-year levels who were nominated and voted upon by representatives of their respective institutions. Nominating information includes cumulative…
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