SPIDYS Awards Honor Best of Richmond Athletics in 2020-21

05/24/2021 | Baseball, Cross Country, Field Hockey, Football, General, Men's Golf, Men's Lacrosse, Men's Tennis, Women's Basketball, Women's Golf, Women's Lacrosse, Women's Soccer, Women's Swimming & Diving, Women's Tennis, Women's Track & Field, Men's Basketball, Spider Leadership, Sports Medicine

RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond Athletics Department held its annual SPIDYs Award Show Monday evening, with the winners unveiled during a live broadcast on the @SpiderAthletics Instagram account. Richmond's top performers during the 2020-21 school year were honored following voting by a panel of Spider head coaches, the SPIDYs committee and Richmond's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

Senior track middle distance runner Brooke Fazio (Basking Ridge, N.J.) was a repeat winner of the Athlete of the Year Award, sharing the honor with senior men's lacrosse attack Ryan Lanchbury (Burlington, Ontario). Fazio won the 800-meter race at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track & Field Championship earlier this month, setting a school and meet record in the final with a time of 2:03.09. She also anchored Richmond's champion 4x400-meter relay at the event.

Lanchbury tallied a team-high 67 points (28 goals, 39 assists) during the Spider lacrosse season and was named Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year and an Honorable Mention Inside Lacrosse All-American. He set a conference record by scoring 7.33 points points per game against SoCon opponents this season -- obliterating the previous mark for most points per game in conference play -- and led the Spiders to the SoCon title game.

Team of the Year honors were shared by a pair of conference champions: men's cross country and the Spiders swimming & diving team. The Richmond men's cross country team won its second Atlantic 10 Championship and first since 2010 in March, posting the best score by any team at the A-10 title meet since 2013 as coach Steve Taylor earned his fourth A-10 Coach of the Year Award. Taylor also was named the SAAC Coach of the Year on Monday evening.

Richmond Swimming & Diving took home its record 16th Atlantic 10 title in April behind coach Matt Barany, who earned his ninth A-10 Coach of the Year honor. The Spiders earned 15 individual medals at the meet while totaling 687.5 points, the most for any team at the A-10 Championship since 2013.

A pair of Spiders freshmen were honored with the Newcomer of the Year Award: men's cross country runner Stuart Terrill (Crozet, Va.) and women's golfer Rory Weinfurther (Fayeteville, Ga.). Terrill's second-place finish at the A-10 Championship in March helped the Spiders to the conference title and earned him All-Conference honors and the Most Outstanding Rookie Performer Award.

Weinfurther became the second conference champion in the history of the Richmond women's golf program, winning the Patriot League Championship by a single stroke in April and advancing to the NCAA Regionals in Columbus, Ohio. She also posted a team-best stroke average of 76.19, the seventh-best single-season mark ever by a Spider.

Field hockey senior forward Abra Granger (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and football senior defensive tackle Kobie Turner (Clifton, Va.) shared the Spider Pride Award, given to the student-athlete who best exemplifies what it means to be a Spider both on and off the field of competition.

The Spider Determination Award was given to Darius Reynolds (Yorktown, Va.), a senior defensive lineman on the Spiders football team, and Claire O'Shaughnessy (Laurel, Md.), a sophomore member of the Spiders swimming & diving program. Reynolds earned Second-Team All-CAA honors this spring after undergoing knee surgery late in 2019. O'Shaughnessy set a program record in the 100-yard butterfly at the A-10 Championship in March and won gold as part of Richmond's 400-yard freestyle relay team. Assistant Athletic Director for Communications Matt McCollester was also given the Spider Determination Award.

The Donnie Earl Lindsey Jr. First Year Spirit Award, given to a newcomer who demonstrates outstanding teamwork and commitment to Richmond Athletics, was awarded to Grace Townsend (Midlothian, Va.) from women's basketball and Drew Beno (Loxahatchee, Fla.) from baseball.

Junior middle distance runner Kendra Smither (Richmond, Va.) earned the Outstanding Civic Engagement Award for her work at Woodlawn Cemetery and her educational efforts in the field of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion while three Spiders shared the Outstanding Leadership Award: baseball's Drew Blakely (Galesburg, Mich.), and women's lacrosse's Brittney Wright (Moorestown, N.J.) Rachel Ziemba (Cazenovia, N.Y.). Ziemba was also one of two student-athletes to win the Presidential Citation Award, given to the senior Spiders with the top academic achievements. Ziemba shared the award with Michael Baker (Concord, N.C.) of men's golf.

The Iron Spidy Award for superior results in strength and conditioning training was won by junior Michael Childress (Salisbury, N.C.) from the men's golf program and sophomore Sopia DiCenso (Foxboro, Mass.) of women's lacrosse.

Richmond's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) also announced its annual Superlative Awards during the broadcast, honoring their peers in categories ranging from Best Dressed to Most Likely to Always Have Hand Sanitizer.

A full list of Monday's award winners can be found below.

SPIDYs AWARD WINNERS
Team of the Year: Men's cross country & Swimming & Diving
Spider Pride Award: Abra Granger & Kobie Turner
Spider Determination Award: Claire O'Shaughnessy & Darius Reynolds & Matt McCollester
Donnie Earl Lindsey Jr. First Year Spirit Award: Grace Townsend & Drew Beno
Outstanding Civic Engagement: Kendra Smither
Outstanding Leadership: Brittney Wright & Rachel Ziemba & Drew Blakely
SAAC Coach of the Year: Steve Taylor
SAAC Assistant Coach of the Year: Justin Wood
SAAC Staff Member of the Year: Jasmine Pinder
Distinguished Staff Award: Spider Sports Medicine Staff
Iron Spidy: Sophia Dicenso & Michael Childress
Presidential Citation Award: Rachel Ziemba & Michael Baker
Graduate Academic Award: Megan Gianforte & Drew Blakely
Third-Year Academic Award: Taylor Coleman and Josh Keitelman
Second-Year Academic Award: Claire O'Shaughnessy & Lou Baker
First-Year Academic Award: Lucy Yeomans & Garrett Clark

SAAC AWARDS
Most Likely to Intimidate the Opponent Before the Game Starts: Marina Miller & Maggie Purcell & Philip O'Connor
Best Dressed: Abra Granger & Riley Haas & Gio Seigler
Most Likely to Have Dining Dollars Left: Hannah Yates & Gabe Arizin & Sean Doolan
Best Roster Photo: Tamar Accius & Caroline Lydecker & Joe Mancuso
Least Likely to Get COVID-19: Taylor Coleman & Caleb Brooks & Tate Gallagher
Best Gameday Hair: Madison Trippett & Grant Golden
Most Likely to Brighten Your Day: Celia Satter, Braxton Hughes & Adrienne Haynes
Most Energy at Morning Workouts: Katie Tritt & Sutton Orndorff & Tazle Sumpter
Most Likely to Always Have Hand Sanitizer With Them: Mekenzie Montgomery & Jake Larson
Best Teammate on AUX: Maddie Loughead & Nick Sherod