Despite faltering in Liberty League playoffs, Skidmore’s Men’s and Women’s basketball teams cleaned up in post-season awards on both sides. The two teams combined to have 9 athletes named to the Liberty League All-Academic Teams for the Winter sports season, which requires athletes who are sophomores or older to maintain a GPA of at least 3.30.
On the women’s side, the team produced 6 members of the Liberty League All-Academic Team. In addition, 3 of the Thoroughbreds were given All-Liberty League honors. Senior forward Migle Vilunaite ’17 and Junior guard Veronica Moceri ’18 were named as honorable mention selections, while Junior guard Kelly Donnelly ‘18 became Skidmore's first back-to-back Liberty League Player of the Year winner, in addition to being named to the All-Liberty League First Team.
To cap it all off, the coaching staff of Head Coach Darren Bennett and Associate Head Coach Elyse Schlump were named as the Liberty League Co-Coaching Staff of the Year.
On the men’s side, Skidmore placed 3 students on the Liberty League All-Academic Team. Sophomore Edvinas Rupkus ’19 was also named to the 2016-17 CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Academic All-America® Division III Men's Basketball Second team. Rupkus currently has a 3.92 GPA as a Business and Economics double major, all in just his sophomore year. Rupkus was a second team selection and one of only three sophomores named out of 15 players honored. He is the third player in program history to receive the CoSIDA honor. Brian Forman (1990-third team) and Jeff Winter (1994-third team) are the other two.
Skidmore College Men's basketball Senior guard Aldin Medunjanin ’17 secured his second Liberty League Player of the Year honor, highlighting three Thoroughbreds that earned All-Liberty League honors on Tuesday. Along with earning Player of the Year honors, Medunjanin was named as a unanimous first team selection. Sophomore guard Edvinas Rupkus ’19 was also a unanimous first-team selection after a stellar season, and Freshman forward Pat Gallagher ‘20 was named to the All-Rookie squad. Head coach Joe Burke, along with Assistant Coach Rey Crossman were named as the Coaching Staff of the Year. The Men’s team heads to Babson this weekend to begin their quest for the NCAA title. They take on Jersey City in the first round of the tournament on Friday, Mar. 3.