LORETTO, Pa. (April 23, 2012) – The Saint Francis University Department of Athletics is pleased to announce its major award winners for the 2011-12 season. Honorees were announced at the school's annual Athletics Awards Banquet held Monday evening at the Maurice Stokes Athletics Center.
 
Keishana LaRose of the women's track and field team was named the winner of the 2012 Wallace Athletic Award, given annually to the outstanding senior female student-athlete. LaRose won the 400-meter dash and 200-meter dash to earn Outstanding Track Performer honors at the NEC Indoor Championships. The junior posted ECAC qualifying marks in both events and won the 200-meter by .03 seconds. In the 400-meter dash, LaRose left the field in her dust besting the field by more than a second and setting the conference record in the event, which had stood for 20 years. For her efforts in the meet, LaRose became the first runner in Saint Francis woman to be named Outstanding Track Performer of the NEC Indoor Championships.
 
The Eugene & Rosemary Turano Athletic Award – given annually to the outstanding senior male student-athlete – was presented to men's cross country/track and field standout Chris Mills. Mills ranked as the only NEC men's track athlete to earn a pair of first-team honors with first-place finishes in the 3,000-meter run and the 5,000-meter run. Since the Northeast Conference added the 5,000-meter run to its indoor championship in 1997 only three runner have ever won the 3,000-meter run and 5,000 twice, all from SFU. Mills earned Outstanding Track Performer of the meet and the Most Valuable Performer of the meet awards and became the fourth SFU student-athlete to earn NEC Indoor MVP honors.
 
This year the Saint Francis lacrosse team went above and beyond with its community service efforts to earn the Community Service award. The Red Flash participated in eight activities that included volunteering at John Paul Manor nursing home, Cards for Troops, Christmas Packages for Troops, Mom's a Million for Shannon Klein, Adopt-a-Family, Gatorade Pong, Penny Wars and the Think Pink Push-Up showdown. Their community service efforts benefitted a number of different organizations such as the Zack Hinish Foundation, the Children's Cancer Recovery Foundation and Central PA Making Strides.
 
Both the Saint Francis University swimming team and field hockey put up impressive academic numbers in the 2011-12 academic year and were recognized with the Bob Hahn Team of Excellence award. Swimming received the CSCAA Team Scholar All America Award for the 11th straight semester, with a collective GPA of 3.48 during the fall to rank them ninth in the country among NCAA Division I women's swimming and diving programs.

As for the field hockey program, the Red Flash posted the second-highest team grade point average in the nation in the fall of 2011 by the NFHCA. The Red Flash stand as just one of two teams in the country, to post a team grade point average above 3.50. Additionally, SFU posted the fifth-most student-athletes in the country on the SGI/NFHCA National Academic Squad.
 
Women's swimmer Chloe Pierre was the recipient of the Frank & Marie Picarella Graduate Scholarship Award, which is presented to a senior athlete who has demonstrated excellence in academics and athletics, and will pursue a postgraduate degree at Saint Francis. Pierre not only lent a helping hand in the swim team's third consecutive NEC title run, but academically the senior aided in the team receiving the CSCAA Team Scholar All-America Award for the 11th straight semester with a collective GPA of 3.48.
 
The Student Athlete Development Leadership Awards were earned by Paul Print of the football team and Katherine Dacanay of the lacrosse team. The second-year award recognizes student athletes who demonstrate exceptional leadership skills and qualities through their involvement in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and/or the Student-Athlete Mentors programs.
 
Luke McConnell of the football team and field hockey's Claire Wilkie (Durban, South Africa/Danville Park Girls) received the J. Irving Whalley Athletics Sportsmanship Award. The award is presented to the senior athletes who demonstrate sportsmanship on and off the field, positive attitude, community service, and leadership and is a role model for younger student-athletes.
 
Catherine Helming and Chris Freidhoff took home the Franciscan Athletic Awards, presented to the senior male and female athletes who demonstrate the eight goals of Franciscan Higher Education.
 
Men's soccer's Taylor Powers and Megan Layne of the softball team earned the Dr. Philip Benham Scholar-Athlete Award which is presented annually to the male and female student-athletes who demonstrate academic and athletic excellence.
 
Powers is a four-time member of the NEC academic honor roll and is a member of SAAC. After posting the third highest GPA on the men's soccer team in the fall, he helped the Flash garner a NSCAA College Team Academic Award. To date, Layne has picked up over 30 wins, 370 strikeouts, 50 complete games and has racked up well over 500 innings pitched in her Red Flash softball career. In 2011, Megan was named to the Capital One Academic All-District II First Team as an English/Communications major.
 
The first-year Red Flash Spirit Award was given to Nathan Turco. Over the past three years, Nathan Turco has put forth and dedicated countless number of hours in making Frankie the Friar, one of the most beloved mascots in all of collegiate athletics. This year Nathan put Frankie on the national stage with a sixth place overall finish among all FCS schools at the 2012 College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship.
 
Also new to the program this year were the underclassmen awards, given to the outstanding male and female freshmen, sophomore and junior student-athletes based on athletic eligibility. This year's inaugural freshmen awards winners included Christina Leid of the bowling team and Pablo Medina of men's soccer. For the sophomore winners, Tesa McKibben of women's soccer and Scott Eatherton of men's basketball took home the hardware. As for the junior class, swimming's Alicia Ford and football's Kyle Harbridge were named the recipients.