Athlete of the Year: Graciano Brito

By Tyler Chaput

Senior soccer player, Graciano Brito, has been selected as the 2008-2009 WQAQ Sports Department Athlete of the Year. Brito was named the Northeast Conference’s Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.

On his way to earning the award, Brito established himself as the most prolific scorer in Quinnipiac Division I history with a total of 40 goals and 92 points.

This past season alone saw Brito tally a record 18 goals and 39 points.

His tremendous combination of size and speed was unmatched by any defender, or any player at all, in the entire conference.

The WQAQ Sports Department admires everything Brito has done for Quinnipiac and the men’s soccer program. We wish him the best with any future endeavors, whether it involves soccer or not.

Athlete of the Semester: Heather Schwartzburg

By Tyler Chaput

Strikeout machine, Heather Schwartzburg, has been chosen by the WQAQ Sports Department as the Athlete of the Semester. Despite never being selected as Athlete of the Week, her incredible consistency and overall performance have made her a stand-out selection.

The freshman from Mission Viejo, Calif., went 15-15 this season while posting a remarkable 1.64 ERA. Over the course off 200 innings, she struck out 206 total batters, leading the team and recording 145 more strikeouts than the next best Bobcat pitcher.

Schwartzburg also led Quinnipiac in opposing batting average, holding opponents to .196, and total appearances with 35.

This young work-horse certainly seems to be moving in the right direction. With one year under her belt, the future looks bright for Schwartzburg and the Bobcats.

Athlete of the Week: Bryn Doyle

By Tyler Chaput

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week, and final Athlete of the Week for the Spring 2009 semester is Manchester, N.H.’s Bryn Doyle of the Quinnipiac baseball team.

In a 13-10 loss to Boston College on Tuesday, Doyle managed to extend his season-high and team-high hitting streak to 12 games.

Doyle scored three runs while driving in two more in the loss.

In his senior year, Doyle has played in 37 of the 39 games while starting in all 37. Despite the Bobcats’ 13-26 overall record, Doyle has been a consistent leader for Quinnipiac, as he leads the team in hits with 44.

Athlete of the Week: Katie Allendorfer

By Tyler Chaput

For the second time this semester and second time in less than a month, the WQAQ Athlete of the Week is softball catcher Katie Allendorfer.

The junior captain went 4-12 at the plate this past weekend.  She belted two home runs and drove in 10 RBI.

Behind her solid offensive play, the Bobcats split their four games this weekend, going 2-2.  Quinnipiac is now 14-26, but has a remarkable 13-1 Northeast Conference Record.

Allendorfer, who bats clean-up for the Bobcats, leads the team in homeruns (six) and RBI (26). Her play behind the plate has been strong as well, as she has committed only two errors in 40 games.

Athlete of the Week: Chris Gloor

Photo Credit: QuinnipiacBobcats.com

By Tyler Chaput

Quinnipiac senior pitcher, Chris Gloor, has been selected as this week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week after sporting a dominating performance last Friday.

Gloor fanned 10 batters through eight strong innings against the Binghamton University Bearcats.  

Despite allowing seven hits, he only allowed one run and did not walk a single batter in the Bobcats’ victory.

The 6-foot-6-inch, 255 pound lefty from Bay Shore, N.Y., improved his personal season record to 2-3 while the Bobcats’ bettered their overall record to 4-12.

WQAQ Athlete of the Week: Katie Allendorfer

By Tyler Chaput

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week is Katie Allendorfer, junior co-captain of the Quinnipiac softball team.  With the help of two home runs, Allendorfer drove in a team-high five RBIs in a 7-3 victory over Holy Cross in the Stony Brook Invitational last weekend.

Her first RBI came in the first inning on a single down the left field line.  In her second at-bat, Allendorfer put one over the fence to give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead.

Allendorfer came to the plate once more in the fifth.  She would also send this one out of the yard, except this time with two runners on giving her RBIs three, four and five on the day.

The catcher’s presence was also felt on the field when she snapped a throw down to third, picking off Mandy Correale to end the game.

Athlete of the Week: Brian Monack

By Tyler Chaput

After making ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays of the Day for the second time in as many seasons, Brian Monack, centerfielder for the Quinnipiac baseball team, was voted in by the WQAQ Sports Department as the WQAQ Athlete of the Week.

Monack tracked down a deep fly in center after completely turning around at one point.  As he approached the warning track, Monack laid out and fully extended to catch the ball before landing on the dirt below.  Some have said the diving catch looked like something out of Gold Glove centerfielder Jim Edmonds’ repertoire.

The catch landed Monack as the No. 2 play on ESPN SportsCenter’s Plays Of The Week.

He was No. 1 on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top-10 Plays of the Day after he jumped over the fence in left-centerfield to rob a homerun at Quinnipiac Field last season.

Athletes of the Week: Kerner, Pennewell, Rooney

By Tyler Chaput

Not one, not two, but three Quinnipiac women’s basketball players have been selected as WQAQ Co-Athletes of the Week.  Brianna Rooney, Erin Kerner and Mandy Pennewell are the honorees after each contributed to a solid season.

Kerner (17.9 points per game), Pennewell (12.8 points per game), and Rooney (7.9 points per game) were the top three scorers for the Bobcats this year.  They were the top 3-point scorers on the team as well with Pennewell leading the squad with 68.

The Northeast Conference honored Rooney and Kerner for their on-court performance.  Rooney was selected as the NEC’s Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row.  She is the only Quinnipiac player ever to win the award.  She led the NEC in steals with 70, steals per game with 2.59, and holds Quinnipiac’s Division I career record with 259.

In her final season, Kerner was named to the All-NEC First Team for the second straight year.  She was honored all four years, being named to the All-NEC Second Team her freshman and sophomore seasons.  Kerner finished third in the NEC with 17.5 points per game.  She also moved into second for the Quinnipiac Division I career scoring record with 1,700 points.

All three players contributed to the Bobcats’ 18-10 (11-7 NEC) regular season.

Athlete of the Week: Justin Rutty

Photo Credit: QuinnipiacBobcats.com

By Tyler Chaput

Justin Rutty has earned WQAQ Athlete of the Week honors for the second time this semester after being named Choice Hotels/NEC Co-Player of the Week on Monday, Feb. 23.  He is recognized after leading Quinnipiac to victories against Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday, Feb. 19, and Long Island on Saturday, Feb. 21.

Overall, Rutty averaged 18.0 points and 11.0 boards in those two wins.  He busted out for 23 points and 16 rebounds in the 78-73 win at LIU.

The sophomore leads his team in rebounding with 245 total boards, and is second on the team in scoring with 398 points and scoring average with 15.3 points per game.

Rutty is also second in the country in offensive rebounds per game (4.54), 13th in field goal percentage (.615), and 23rd in rebounds per game (9.42).

Athlete of the Week: David Marshall

Photo Credit: QuinnipiacBobcats.com

By Tyler Chaput

The Quinnipiac Division I career goals record has been set.  Forward David Marshall scored his 68th career goal and team-leading 17th in a 5-3 victory over Clarkson on Feb. 14 earning him WQAQ Athlete of the Week honors.

Marshall’s goal would prove to be the game winner as he put the Bobcats up 4-1 at the 8:41 mark in the third period.  Quinnipiac improved to 15-13-2 and 8-8-2 in ECAC play.

He also recorded one assist in the game on an empty-net goal by Eric Lampe.

Along with leading the team in goals, Marshall is second on the team in points with 36 and second in assists with 19.

Being 5-11 and 185 pounds doesn’t stop Marshall from mixing it up with the opposition on a regular basis.  He has been a catalyst for the Quinnipiac offense and as goes Marshall, so go the Bobcats.