University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Holds Annual Senior Awards Banquet
May 02, 2011 | Men's Track & Field
May 2, 2011
AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass Senior Awards Banquet took place on Monday night at the Campus Center and five student-athletes were honored with the highest awards. Track & Field star Sean Busch was named the Male Athlete of the Year. Lacrosse sensation Jackie Lyons earned the top Female Athlete of the Year. Rower Samantha Schnoerr was named the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year while football receiver Anthony Nelson was named the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Soccer goalkeeper Chris Piekos was named the Inspirational Athlete of the Year after serving two tours of duty in Iraq and earning a Bronze Star as part of the Marine Special Forces.
The Banquet featured a video including the more than 100 senior student-athletes at UMass. Chi Alpha Sigma medals were also presented for outstanding achievement in the classroom.
Here's a closer look at the major award winners.
Busch, a native of Stow, Mass., is a two-time Atlantic 10 indoor pole vault champion. He holds school record in indoor pole vault (16-00.75) as well as the second-best school mark ever in outdoor pole vault (15-9). He captured the conference titles in the indoor pole vault in 2010 and 2011 and will compete in the outdoor championships this month.
Lyons, from Rocky Point, N.Y., is a two-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Year after leading UMass to the A-10 title for the third year in a row, last weekend. She has led the Minutewomen to the A-10 regular-season crowns in 2009 and 2011. She was an All-American in 2010 and broke the program's career point record with a pair of goals in the A-10 title game on Sunday, giving her 220 points for her career. As a senior, she has 37 goals and 30 assists for 67 points heading into the NCAA Play-In this Saturday vs. Canisius. She is now one of three players all-time in program history to eclipse the 200-point barrier at UMass.
Schnoerr from Norwalk, Conn., has a 3.945 GPA as a Legal Studies major. She was also named the Atlantic 10 Rowing Student-Athlete of the Year on Monday. Schnoerr, coxswain for the Varsity Eight, helped the Minutewomen to a third place finish at the A-10 Championships, finishing with a time of 8:07.95. Schnoerr was also recognized by the Legal Studies department when she was one of two recipients for the Shep Shepard Award, which awards a combination of academic excellence and contributions to the community. To read more about the Shep Shepard Award
Nelson of Wellington, Fla., was honored after posting a 3.88 GPA in Economics and earning All-CAA accolades as a receiver. A first-team Academic All-American by ESPN The Magazine as a senior. He was the 2010 CAA Football Scholar-Athlete of Year, named to the 2010 FCS ADA Academic All-Start Team and honored on the FCS Athletics Directors Association Academic All-Star Team. On the field, he led team in receptions (61) and receiving yards (830). His 61 catches ranks as ninth-best single-season in UMass history. Nelson ranked Second in CAA and 29th in NCAA in catches per game (5.7) and stood first in CAA and 42nd in nation in receiving yards per game (70.1).
Piekos is a native of Sinking Spring, Pa. He spent four years with the Marine Special Forces (Reconnaissance) prior to UMass where served two deployments in Fallujah, Iraq and was awarded the Bronze Star. Piekos, a member of the Marine Special Forces Reconnaissance team, entered into a building with two other teammates in search for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The date was May 17, 2006. Piekos and his team received information from the CIA about al-Zarqawi's whereabouts and were sent in to take care of the insurgents loyal to him and capture the Jordanian-born terrorist. On the other side of a fake wall, 25 Iraqi combatants waited for Piekos and his team to make a move before striking. Once they moved, the 25 insurgents, armed with grenades and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), unloaded on the Marine group, including one solider who took enough bullets to kill him before he hit the ground.
As a soccer player at UMass, Piekos was named A-10 and UMass Athlete of the Week on Oct. 12, 2010. He logged 1618 minutes in goal making 16 starts in 16 games played and allowed 0.89 goals against, while posting a .837 save percentage. He pitched 5 shutouts en route to a 5-5-8 record and had a career high 12 saves against Dartmouth on Sept. 29, 2010.