SAVANNAH, Ga. – On Monday night, the SCAD Athletics Department hosted its annual Awards Banquet to celebrate this past season. Joel Thatcher and Lara Kurt took home the top awards of the season – Male and Female Athletes of the Year.
 
Every year the SCAD Athletics Department holds an end-of-the-year banquet to celebrate the success of the artist-athletes and coaches. Seven major awards are handed out during the banquet, and each team nominates individuals for team awards.
 
The major awards are as follows: Paul Poetter Male and Female Athletes of the Year, the Champion of Character, Athletic Director Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year, the Assistant Coach of the Year, and the Frances Wong Coach of the Year.
 
Paul Poetter Male Athlete of the Year – Joel Thatcher (Mason, Ohio / Senior / Writing) – Men's Swimming
 
Thatcher was a three-time NAIA Men's Swimming Individual National Champion, winning every individual event in which he competed, making him a three-time NAIA All-American. He led his team to a runner-up finish at the 2022 NAIA Men's Swimming & Diving National Championship. He was named the NAIA Swimmer of the Month for October and was a Bee of the Week twice this year.
 
 
Paul Poetter Female Athlete of the Year – Lara Kurt (Leland, N.C. / Freshman / User Experience (UX) Design) – Women's Bowling
 
Kurt was named the 2022 NAIA Women's Bowling National Championship Most Valuable Player (MVP) and earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. She led her team to an NAIA National Title and seven wins this season, including a Tier 1 event and the USBC Sectionals (the first time in program history). She was named Bee of the Week once this season.
 
 
Champion of Character – Men's Golfer Gabriel Velasco (Porto Alegre, Brazil / Junior / Architecture)
 
 
For the first time in Athletics' history, there were six combined Athletic Director Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year. This award is presented to the male and female Artist-Athlete with the highest grade-point average (GPA) going into their final quarter at SCAD. This year there were two men and four women with 4.00 GPAs who will be graduating this Spring.
 
Ben Broer (Toronto, Ontario, Canada / Interactive Design/Game Development) – Men's Soccer
Joel Thatcher (Mason, Ohio / Writing) – Men's Swimming
Alessia Cristina Avanzo (Trieste, Italy / Fashion Marketing and Management) – Women's Golf
Sydney Bowers (Lake Worth, Fla. / Film and Television) – Women's Lacrosse
Eliana Charalambous (Manassas, Va. / Graphic Design) – Women's Soccer
Christina Wright (Cumming, Ga. / Illustration) – eSports – Overwatch
 
Assistant Coach of the Year – Sophie Kuzma – Women's Lacrosse
 
Kuzma stepped up this season and took on the women's lacrosse program without a head coach. She led her team to a perfect (7-0) Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) record and a runner-up finish at the AAC Championship. Her team – then ranked No. 5 – earned an at-large bid to the 2022 NAIA Women's Lacrosse National Championship. They finished fourth in the rankings, upsetting No. 2 Keiser University in the Quarterfinals. One athlete was named an NAIA All-American.
 
 
Frances Wong Coach of the Year – Katie Thornton – Men's and Women's Bowling
 
Thornton led her teams to eight wins this season, including the 2022 NAIA Women's Bowling National Championship Title.
 
The men's team won its first-ever Tier 1 event in program history and finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the NAIA. The men's team was invited to the PBA Collegiate Invitational Presented by STORM (only the top four teams in the country are invited), where they finished second.
 
Both the men's and women's teams finished first at the USBC Sectionals for the first time in either's program history and were one of only four universities to qualify both its men's and women's programs for the Intercollegiate Team Sectionals.
 
Thornton was named the Gordon Vadakin Men's Coach of the Year and was the first woman to win this award. Her teams totaled two NAIA All-Americans and two NAIA All-Tournament Team selections, including Tournament MVP.
 
 
2021-22 Team Awards:
 
Men's Bowling
Most Improved – Paul McRae
 
Women's Bowling
Most Improved – Yumi Yuzuriha
 
Men's Cross Country
Performer of the Year – Jake Barraclough
Newcomer of the Year – Tomoki Scharber
 
Women's Cross Country
Performer of the Year – Talia Sullivan
Newcomer of the Year – Montserrat De Santiago
 
Cycling
Men's Most Valuable Performer -  Eugenio Mirafuentes
Women's Most Valuable Performer – Lauren Dodge
 
Equestrian
Most Improved – Bradley Shepherd
Coaches' Award – Ian Arnoldy
Maida Scholarship – Carly Vujakovich
 
eSports
League of Legends MVP – Kolbe Pitts
Overwatch MVP – Matthew Kilmartin
Coaches' Award – Christina Wright
Most Improved – Wilson McGuirt
 
Men's Indoor Track & Field
Performer of the Year – Jake Barraclough
 
Women's Indoor Track & Field
Performer of the Year – Talia Sullivan
 
Men's Golf
Most Valuable Player – Gabriel Velasco
Most Improved Player – Max Fallenius
Teammate of the Year – Alejandro Guillen
 
Women's Golf
Most Valuable Player – Ariana Castro
Most Improved Player – Marie Oulie
Teammate of the Year – Karntida Thantamnu
 
Men's Lacrosse
Most Valuable Player – Benny Goldberg
Unsung Hero – Dylan Doremus
Most Improved Player – Patrick Aherne
 
Women's Lacrosse
Unsung Hero – Keagan Plume
Rookie of the Year – Molly Wilson
Coach's Award – Hannah Smith
 
Men's Soccer
Offensive Player of the Year – Phillip Holtgen
Defensive Player of the Year – Erik Ulloa
Most Valuable Player – Connor Friel
 
Women's Soccer
Offensive Player of the Year – Sydney Chura
Defensive Player of the Year – Noel Thompson
Most Valuable Player – Berglind Baldursdottir
 
Men's Swimming
Most Improved – Samuel Page
Coaches' Award – Miles Kredich
Swimmer of the Year – Joel Thatcher
 
Women's Swimming
Most Improved – Mia Thatcher
Coaches' Award – Spencer Sheridan
Swimmer of the Year – Sloan Sizemore
 
Men's Tennis
Most Valuable Performance – Mark Tryakshin
Coaches' Award – Eloy Veloso
Most Improved Performance - Romano Natale
 
Women's Tennis
Most Valuable Performance – Priya Sukkanha
Coaches' Award – Yue Yu
Most Improved Performance – Tova Tilk Tobrand
 
Men's Track & Field
Performer of the Year – Jake Barraclough
 
Women's Track & Field
Performer of the Year – Sarah Jane Foreman
 
Intramurals
Female Athlete of the Year – Sydney Ann Haistings
Male Athlete of the Year – T'Naige Burton Wallace