Baseball | April 23, 2018
PHILADELPHIA - La Salle University seniors
Fabian Bergman,
Paige McDowell and
Morgan Szekely were named Scholar-Athletes of the Year at the Annual Athletics Banquet, held at Tom Gola Arena on Monday evening.
Bergman, McDowell and Szekely were joined as major award winners by senior
Gregory Dix, who won the De La Salle Service Award, senior
Ryan Nork, the winner of the Academic Excellence Award, and senior Trey Herring, who was the recipient of the Joseph E. Crowley Award. Two new awards were also introduced: Performance of the Year, which was won by women's soccer player
Larisa Zambelli for her MVP performance in the Atlantic 10 Championship game against VCU, and Win of the Year, which went to the women's soccer squad for its victory over the Rams that sent the program to its fifth NCAA Tournament.
An intimidating force along the backline for La Salle's women's soccer program, McDowell helped the Explorers to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances during her playing career. After redshirting her first year at La Salle, McDowell burst onto the scene in 2014. She was named First Team All-Atlantic 10 and to the All-Rookie Team as she helped the Explorers to a perfect 8-0-0 regular season league record. Over the next three seasons, she started 61 games and closed out her career with another Atlantic 10 championship and first-team all-league honor. A criminal justice major, she holds a 3.52 GPA and is scheduled to walk at graduation in May.
A top performer in both cross country and track and field throughout her career, Szekely has been one of the top runners in the region over four years. As a freshman, she was the Atlantic 10 individual cross country champion and became the first Explorer to ever qualify for NCAA Championships after a fifth-place finish at regionals. As a sophomore, she repeated as cross champ and was an All-Mid-Atlantic Region honoree. On the track, she holds school records in the 800-meter run and the 3000-meter run. In the classroom, she maintains a 3.44 GPA and will graduate with a bachelor's in business administration in May.
Bergman was a standout in the pool for four straight seasons at La Salle. A native of Sweden, he was a member of the conference-winning 400 medley relay team as a sophomore. This season, he was a member of the school-record breaking 200 medley and 800 free relay teams while also setting new individual La Salle marks in the 200 free, 100 back, 200 back, and 200 individual medley. Bergman was named Atlantic 10 Performer of the Week six times and was also named to the All-Academic Team for a third straight year. He will graduate in May with a 3.76 GPA as an Integrated Science, Business and Technology major.
Dix was named the De La Salle Service Award winner as he was the catalyst in organizing the "Pong for Puerto Rico" event, which collected money and water to send to Puerto Rico after the hurricane in September. He also took part in the Deepher Dude fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis and was an active member in Project Teamwork activities including Bringing Hope Home.
Through the fall semester, Nork boasts an impressive 3.96 GPA and will graduate in a couple weeks with a bachelor's degree in integrated science, business and technology. At La Salle, he worked on a research project involving the isolation and characterization of a mycobacterium phage from soil and presented the results of his project at the Sea-Phage Symposium. He has also been a four-year member of the men's soccer team, and scored the game-winning goal in his final collegiate contest, a 2-0 win at Davidson.
The Crowley Award, named for the first manager of basketball and football at La Salle, is given to a non-athlete who has made significant contributions to the athletic department. This year's recipient, Trey Herring, has been involved with the athletic department in a wide variety of ways over four years, which included a term as manager of the women's basketball program. He has also chipped in as a student worker with the facilities and media relations teams throughout his time as an undergraduate student.
In addition, Explorer Excellence Awards were handed out to an individual from each sport program who, as voted on by their teammates, demonstrated leadership, character, sportsmanship, and best exemplified the values of their team. The award winners were:
