04/30/2024
SUNY Cortland junior Leah Bernhardt (Groton), sophomore Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union), junior Gabrielle Nadler (Potomac, MD/Richard Montgomery) and senior Logan Streety (Elma/Iroquois) have been honored as 2023-24 State University of New York (SUNY) Scholar Athletes of the Year during the winter season.
Bernhardt is the SUNY system's Division III honoree for women's swimming and diving. Brunache is the winner for men's indoor track and field. Nadler was recognized in the Division III winter at-large category. Streety was honored for women's basketball.
Bernhardt is a graphic design & digital media major who entered the spring semester with a 3.92 overall grade point average. This past March she won the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title in the 500-yard freestyle and was the SUNYAC runner-up in the 200-yard freestyle. She also placed third in the 1,650-yard freestyle, and during that race set a school record in the 1,000-yard freestyle with her opening 1,000-yard time of 10:37.22.
Brunache is an exercise science major who brought a 3.99 overall GPA into the spring semester. He was an NCAA qualifier in both the weight throw and shot put this winter, but did not compete at nationals due to injury. He earned All-Niagara Region honors in both events and won the weight throw and was runner-up in the shot put at the SUNYAC Championships. Brunache set a school record in the weight throw (18.51 meters/60' 8.75") at the AARTFC Championships.
Nadler is a sports studies major with a 3.92 overall GPA entering the spring semester. She earned all-region honors at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) East Championships with a tie for sixth place on floor exercise, posting a career-high 9.80. She tied for 27th place on floor at NCGA national championships with a 9.70.
Streety is an exercise science major who entered the spring semester with a 3.87 cumulative GPA. She earned second team D3hoops.com all-region and first team All-SUNYAC honors after averaging 14.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in 26 contests.
The Winter SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards recognized 21 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 grade point average, current and career statistics, and athletic and academic honors.
More than 14,000 student-athletes compete at SUNY institutions representing 53 different colleges and universities at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division III/USCAA and NJCAA levels and are eligible for the awards. The 19 Division III institutions in the SUNY system are: Alfred State, Brockport, Buffalo State, Canton, Cobleskill, Cortland, Delhi, Farmingdale, Fredonia, Geneseo, Maritime, Morrisville, New Paltz, Old Westbury, Oneonta, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Potsdam and SUNY Poly. SUNY-ESF, the lone four-year SUNY institution sponsoring intercollegiate athletics that is a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) instead of the NCAA, participates in the program with the 19 NCAA Division III members for a total of 20 colleges and universities.
The SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards, which originated in the fall of 2022, recognize outstanding academic and athletic success in 29 different sports and are presented three times a year to coincide with the specific sports contested in the fall, winter and spring seasons. The Scholar Athletes of the Year in each sport will then be nominated for an overall Scholar Athlete of the Year for men's sports and women's sports in each category that will be announced in mid-July.
Because sport sponsorship varies among institutions, a minimum sponsorship formula has been developed for award selections. At least three (3) institutions must sponsor the sport in the Division I category, while at least five (5) institutions must sponsor the sport in the SUNY Division III/USCAA and SUNY NJCAA categories. For sports that do not meet the minimum threshold to be a viable award, an At-Large Category has been developed for each level and each season.