The Year Of The Seahawk
The 2023-24 academic year will go down as one of the most successful years in the history of the Wagner College athletic department.
With the new year approaching quickly, I want to take a moment to reflect on the many highlights our student-athletes accomplished in the classroom and their respective athletic arenas.
In the classroom, our athletic department achieved a department-wide GPA of 3.373, as Dominic Palermo, Emma Lofstedt, and Ryan Lane earned NEC Scholar Athlete of the Year honors.
In March, we witnessed an unforgettable run by our Men's Basketball Team to March Madness, as the shorthanded Seahawks introduced the entire country to Wagner's Toughness.
A huge congratulations also goes out to our women's water polo, men's swimming and diving, and the men's indoor track and field team on their respective conference titles, which marks the most conference championships in a single year in school history.
I’d like to thank President Araimo, the Board of Trustees, and the entire Wagner College administration for their tremendous support of our student-athletes and teams.
Go Seahawks!
Brendan Fahey
March Madness
The Seahawks won their second-ever NEC title and won their first-ever NCAA Tournament game.
Limited to just seven players, Wagner became the first team ever to win three straight road games en route to an NEC title and just the second #6 seed in history to represent the conference at the Big Dance.
Wagner's success gained regional and national media attention.
Redemption
The top-seeded Wagner women's water polo team defeated Marist by a score of 9-8 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship title game, as the Seahawks won their eighth MAAC title in the last 11 years.
Head Coach Josh Hower was named MAAC Coach of the Year, sophomore Francesca Sena earned Goalie of the Year while graduate student Pip Nash earned Defensive Player of the Year.
On the men's side, the Seahawks claimed fourth place at the MAWPC tournament, earning a semifinal appearance for the second time in three years.
The Dynasty
The Wagner College men's track and field team claimed its fourth straight Northeast Conference (NEC) indoor title. The Seahawks' women's team rounded out a successful weekend at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Complex by finishing third.
The Wagner men's team became the first team to win four consecutive indoor titles since LIU Brooklyn achieved the feat between 2014-2017.
Individually, the Seahawks took home five major awards. Senior Ryan Lane and sophomore Christopher Millilo were named the Outstanding Field Performers for Jumps and Throws, respectively, while freshman Jack Mason earned Outstanding Rookie Performer honors on the men's side.
On the women's side, senior Ruth-Ann Chambers repeated as the NEC's Most Outstanding Track Performer for Sprints, while freshman June Fernandez earned Most Outstanding Rookie Performer honors.
Graduate student Dominic Palermo was named the NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for both the fall and spring season.
At the NEC Outdoor Championship, both Seahawk track and field teams came in second place.
At the end of the meet, Franklin Simms was named the Co-Most Outstadning Field Perfomer (Throws) for his showings in the discus and the shot put. Ruth-Ann Chambers was tabbed as the Most Outstanding Track Performer; while June Ferandez and Jack Mason earned Most Outstanding Rookie honors.
The Rise
In only its third season of competition, the Wagner College men's swimming and diving team claimed its first-ever NEC championship.
This is the second swimming & diving title in Wagner history and the first since the women's team won its first title in 2014. Wagner's women's team finished in third place this year. For a full women's recap, click here.
The Seahawks dethroned Howard as the champions in what was a crucial final day of competition. Wagner finished with 884.5 total points — 51 more points than the second place Bison.
Freshman Jasu Ovaskainen was awarded NEC Outstanding Swimmer and Rookie of the Meet after earning individual victories in the 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard IM. He also earned an additional four victories as part of relay teams. This marks the second consecutive season that a Wagner swimmer has won the Rookie of the Meet award after sophomore Kaan Nalçaci won last year.
On the women's side, Freshman Rebekka Luoto earned NEC Co-Outstanding Swimmer and Rookie of the Meet as the Seahawks finished in third place.
The Underdogs
As the #6 seed in the NEC Tournament, Wagner advanced to the NEC Championship game. In their first round matchup at #3 seed FDU, the Seahawks became the first #6 seed to advance since the field expanded last season with a 3-0 victory over the defending champions.
The Seahawks then earned a dramatic victory in penalty kicks over Merrimack in the semifinal game to make it to their first-ever NEC Championship game.
Six student-athletes of the Wagner women's soccer team earned College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honors, the organization announced Friday.
Graduate students Madison Carr and Juliana Rafaniello, senior Kayla Barbosa, and juniors Claire Janis, Kylie McNally and Emma Roe were named All-District.
Looking Up
Behind freshman All-American and NEC Rookie of the Year Jaylen Bonelli, the Seahawks picked up three wins in NEC action.
Bonelli became just the second Seahawk ever to win the award, joining all-time Wagner great Nick Doscher.
On homecoming night, Wagner earned a dramatic last-second victory over Merrimack at Hameline Field.
Leaving Their Mark
Freshman Flavio Vinci of the Wagner men's fencing team came in 13th place at the NCAA Championship, the highest finish by a Seahawk in school history. Wagner's first ever representative at nationals picked up 11 total victories to earn the top-15 finish.
At NCAA Regionals, junior Katerina Cervenkova followed up her semi-final appearance in pool play from last year with another top four finish behind an undefeated first two rounds. Overall, Cervenkova finished in 16th place overall out of 41 fencers.
The Seahawks had six more athletes reach the quarter final stage of the respective competitions at the NCAA Regional Meet.