The Barry University Athletic Department celebrated its 24th annual Athletic Awards Banquet on Thursday, April 24, 2008, at the Signature Grand in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Awards were presented to athletes from every sport.
Dr. G. Jean Cerra, the dean of Barry's School of Human Performance & Leisure Sciences who is retiring in May, was honored for the 17 years she has given to Barry, HPLS and the athletic department. The model she built at Barry is increasingly the one chosen by athletic departments around the country, including NCAA Division I instituions like Vanderbilt University. The athletic department presented her a set of colf clubs and a Barry golf bag.
Softball senior Ali Perantoni and athletic administrative graduate assistant Carolyn Bennett split the Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin Community Service Award.
Perantoni (center), an officer on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, assisted in the rebuilding of a homeless shelter for women, conducted a clothing drive and assisted at the Hope Center and the Special Olympics. In addition, she helped coordinate the Christmas toy drive benefitting the Just Kids Center.
Bennett (left) headed the HPLS Team in Relay for Life for the past two years, was active in the Special Olympics, and was the driving force behind Barry's Make-A-Wish fundraising which has totaled over $15,000 the past two years.
Amber Jack (center), softball, was selected as the Female Athlete-of-the-Year after leading the Bucs to the top of the NFCA national poll. She set a school record with 22 straight wins and currently sports a 25-1 mark with an 0.54 ERA. She set a Barry career record with her sixth save earlier this year and has posted 15 shutouts and three no-hitters. She leads a pitching staff which led the nation in ERA in 2007 and ranks second this year and individually ranks second in nation in ERA.
Andrew Frezza (left), baseball, and Patrick Rittenauer (right), men's tennis, were named co-Male-Athletes-of-the-Year. Frezza is second on the team with a .388 batting average, runs scored (57) and RBI (54) and leads the team in stolen bases (14-of-18). He has led the team to an 129-80-3 mark over his career. The team set a school record for batting average (.323) in 2007 and is ahead of that pace this year (.341). Rittenauer is a three-time ITA singles All-American and two-time doubles All-American. In singles, he has racked up a 55-11 mark, sixth in wins and seventh in percentage. In doubles, he’s been even better with a 71-12 mark which is second for wins and first in winning percentage.
Barry's Professor Neil Miller Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Year is split between men's tennis and softball.
Patrick Rittenauer (right) keeps the men's Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Year award with the men's tennis team for the fifth straight year. Rittenauer played number one in singles for most of the year recording a 6-5 singles record and ranks 25th in the ITA national rankings. He led the Bucs to a Sunshine State Conference tournament title, their sixth.. An international studies and political science major at Barry, he has a 3.959 GPA. He also becomes the first Buccaneer since Bill Reifsnider (1989-90) and just the second overall to earn Scholar-Athlete and Athlete of the Year in the same year.
Shyla Rider (left) earned Female Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Year award. A three-year starter for the softball team, she has been the consumate leadoff hitter. She sports a .445 on-base percentage which is third in school history. She is also seventh in runs scored, third in hits and second in doubles. She is on pace to own all those records by the end of her career. A chemistry major, she has posted a 3.957 grade point average.
The women's soccer team walked away with the CHAMPS/LifeSkills competition after two second-place finishes, including last year when they were edged the softball team by a scant six points, the closest spread in the competition's history. Last year's champs, softball, placed second while women's basketball came in third.
Below is a list of all the award winners.
