Michelle DuCharme, Ashley Johnston and Matt Miklius Earn Awards at Pirate Varsity Club Athletics Awards Banquet

Matt Miklius

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Seton Hall swimmers Michelle DuCharme (Vernon, Conn.), Ashley Johnston (Windsor, Conn.) and Matt Miklius (Palatine, Ill.) were honored at the Pirate Varsity Club Athletics Awards Banquet. DuCharme was named Sophomore Co-Female Athlete of the Year, Johnston was named the Senior Athlete of the Year and Miklius was named the Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Ducharme was one of the Pirates’ top distance swimmers and set school records in both the 500 and 1650 freestyle. She was also a member of two record-setting freestyle relay teams and earned a seventh-place finish in the 1650 freestyle at the BIG EAST Championships.

Johnston garnered Senior Female Athlete of the Year recognition after posting 19 first-place finishes this season and setting three school records in the butterfly and individual medley races. The Pirates’ top swimmer, she won both the 200 and 400 meter individual medley races at the ECAC Championships.

Miklius is a three-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star and earned Academic All-America Third Team honors last year. Miklius is also a finalist for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and has maintained a 4.0 GPA in Physics. A Dean’s List student every semester, Miklius will also graduate Summa Cum Laude.

Seton Hall senior softball standout Katie Pierce (Pittsfield, Mass./Pittsfield) garnered Female Athlete of the Year accolades while junior Sacha Kljestan (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach) of the men’s soccer team earned Male Athlete of the Year honors for the second straight year at the annual Pirate Varsity Club banquet, held Monday evening on the Seton Hall University campus. Seton Hall also honored seniors Caitlin White (Lincoln University, Pa./St. Mark’s (Del.)) of the softball team and Matt Miklius (Palatine, Ill./St. Viator) of the men’s swimming and diving team with awards as Scholar Athletes of the Year.

Pierce has enjoyed an outstanding senior season offensively, while providing senior leadership to a young Pirates squad. She leads the team and ranks among the top five in the BIG EAST Conference in batting average (.377), hits (61), doubles (15), triples (five), RBI (44) and runs scored (44). A BIG EAST Player of the Week honoree this season, she also leads the team with 12 stolen bases and has hit eight home runs. A candidate for all conference honors, she tied the single-season hit record on Sunday and already holds the career mark for hits and doubles at Seton Hall.

After guiding the men’s soccer team to its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament, Kljestan earned NSCAA/adidas Third Team All-America honors, becoming just the fourth Pirate to be named a two-time All-American. He set a single-season record at SHU with 15 assists and added nine goals for 33 points, en route to being named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year. A semifinalist for national player of the year, he was the fifth overall pick in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft by CD Chivas USA.

The Male and Female Scholar Athlete Awards are presented annually to the member of the senior class with the highest grade-point average. Last year, White became the third Seton Hall student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors when she was named to CoSIDA’s 2005 Academic All-America First Team. A three-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star, White will graduate Summa Cum Laude with a 3.96 GPA in biology.

In addition to the Athlete of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year awards, Seton Hall also recognized its male and female Athletes of the Year for each class at the banquet.

Donald Copeland (Jersey City, N.J./St. Anthony) of the men’s basketball team was named Senior Male Athlete of the Year. Copeland was named to both the All-BIG EAST and All-Metropolitan Second Teams after leading the Pirates in scoring, assists, three-pointers, steals and free throw percentage. He helped guide SHU to an 18-12 record and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

The Junior Female Athlete of the Year Award went to Jessica King (Midland, Ontario/Ecole Secondaire Le Caron) of the volleyball team. A BIG EAST Player of the Week and All-Tournament selection at the Penn State Classic, she led Seton Hall in kills (320) and kills per game (3.5). King was third on the team with 68 blocks and posted an impressive .294 hitting percentage.

A standout on the soccer team, Teddy Niziolek (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) earned Junior Male Athlete of the Year honors. After making the shift from defense to midfield before the yea, Niziolek started 19 games and posted two goals and five assists. Niziolek was honored as an All-BIG EAST Second Team pick and Mid-Atlantic Region All-America Third Team selection.

Softball’s Jenna Best (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) and Michelle Ducharme (Vernon, Conn./Rockville) of the swimming and diving team were tabbed as Co-Sophomore Female Athletes of the Year. A starting outfielder, Best is riding a hot streak over that past two weeks that has raised her batting average to .331 and she now leads the team with nine home runs, while ranking second with 41 runs batted in.

Track and field’s Greg Gomes (Somerset, N.J./Franklin) and baseball’s Dan Merklinger (West Orange, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) shared Sophomore Male Athlete of the Year honors. Gomes won the 500 meter run at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships and has been one of the team’s top placers all season. In addition to his BIG EAST Championship, Gomes took the 500 meter title at the IC4A Championships and won the 800 meter run at the Fordham Invitational. Merklinger has been one of the top pitchers for the Pirates this season. He leads the team in innings pitched, wins and strikeouts. A two-time BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week, he ended West Virginia’s 17-game win streak with a complete-game 10-strikeout, no-walk performance in a 6-0 win.

Shantel Brown (Lakewood, N.J./St. John Vianney) of the women’s basketball team and volleyball’s Tricia Meyers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mother of Mercy) shared Freshman Female of the Year accolades. Brown started 26 games at point guard for the Pirates and averaged 9.6 points and a team-high 3.2 assists. She ranked 10th in the BIG EAST in steals, while scoring in double-figures 11 times and was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week on Jan. 9. Meyers led the team and ranked seventh in the BIG EAST with a hitting percentage of .312. She was second on SHU in kills (309) and blocks (89), while posting double-digit kills in 18 matches.

Soccer’s Eliseo Giusfredi (Paterson, N.J./St. Joseph (Montvale)) rounded out the award recipients, earning Freshman Male Athlete of the Year honors. The team’s leading goal-scorer with 11, Giusfredi helped the Pirates rank fourth in the NCAA in scoring. Giusfredi scored a league-best six goals in conference play, en route to earning All-BIG EAST Second Team, NSCAA/adidas Mid-Atlantic Region All-America Third Team and CollegeSoccerNews.com All-Freshman Third Team honors.

2005-06 SETON HALL PIRATE VARSITY CLUB AWARD WINNERS

FEMALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Caitlin White, Softball (Lincoln University, Pa.)
MALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Matt Miklius, Swimming and Diving (Pallatine, Ill.)

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Katie Pierce, Softball (Pittsfield, Mass.)
MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Sacha Kljestan, Soccer (Huntington Beach, Calif.)

SENIOR FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Ashley Johnston, Swimming and Diving (Windsor, Conn.)
SENIOR MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Donald Copeland, Basketball (Jersey City, N.J.)

JUNIOR FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Jessica King, Volleyball (Midland, Ontario)
JUNIOR MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Teddy Niziolek, Soccer (Clifton, N.J.)

SOPHOMORE CO-FEMALE ATHLETES OF THE YEAR: Jenna Best, Softball (Medford, N.J.), Michelle Ducharme, Swimming and Diving (Vernon, Conn.)
SOPHOMORE MALE CO-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR: Greg Gomes, Track and Field (Somerset, N.J.), Dan Merklinger (West Orange, N.J.)

FRESHMAN FEMALE CO-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR: Shantel Brown, Basketball (Lakewood, N.J.), Tricia Meyers (Cincinnati, Ohio)
FRESHMAN MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Eliseo Giusfredi, Soccer (Paterson, N.J.)

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