The Department of Athletics presented the 4th annual Swoopy Awards during a virtual ceremony held on Wednesday, May 26, 2021. Celebrating the academic and athletic accomplishments of our student-athletes and teams, this year’s recipients are particularly notable given the unique challenges they faced because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We still wanted to honor and celebrate the student-athletes who sacrificed a lot to be on campus during a year that no one could have prepared for” Sports Information Director Brendan Faherty shared. “I know it wasn’t easy, but the students made the most of it and persevered.”
For the consecutive year, the awards were held virtually. While we weren’t able to celebrate our student-athletes in the traditional way, we did want to recognize them for their resilience in a way that was safe.
“We wanted to be consistent and continue to celebrate our student-athletes with what is a fun, vibrant, and wonderful event, even if it meant doing it virtually,” Director of Athletics Ronnie Palmer said. “Last year we celebrated fall and winter sports, because spring was cancelled. This year it was the opposite, where we played spring, but fall and winter were cancelled. Essentially, we wanted to show our athletes we want to do what’s in the best interest of them and show that perseverance through this pandemic is the way.”
For the first time in awards history, the Team of the Year Award recognized a different kind of team – a team that competed against a faceless rival to restore the health and well-being of our local communities. The Vaccination Site Team, which took home the top honor, led by Bob Sembiante, director of Events and Alumni Relations, Marya DiPerna, assistant director of Events, Robert Maxwell, director of Campus Safety, Kellie Brown, Health Services Nurse, and Carlos Lopez, Vaccination Site Coordinator, was recognized for the months of work they did supporting the healthcare workers from Waterbury Health in vaccinating more than 30,000 Connecticut residents.
“The Vaccination Team affected so many people in such an impactful, positive, and essentially lifesaving way,” Palmer shared. “They paved the way for us all to be back on campus this fall and return to normalcy. It was the easiest decision we ever made in giving out a Swoopy.”
Faherty added, “Without the vaccination team, there would have been no Spring sports season and who knows how long that could have extended to. Everything starts with them. There are not enough accolades and words to describe the amount of gratitude that we have for everything that they did. The Team of the Year Award was our way of saying ‘thank you; for the life-changing service they provided the Post University and Waterbury communities throughout the last number of months.”
Congratulations to this year’s Swoopy Award honorees:
| Award | Recipient |
| Team of the Year Award | The Vaccination Site Team |
| Top GPA for a Large Team Award | Softball (3.62 team GPA) |
| Top GPA for a Small Team Award | Women’s Golf (3.86 team GPA) |
| Team Community Service Award | Women’s Lacrosse |
| Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award | Nick Levesque (Men’s Ice Hockey) |
| Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award | Kaitlyn Daly (Women’s Ice Hockey) |
| Best Game Award | Softball team’s doubleheader win in walk-off fashion |
| Best Moment Award | Women’s Lacrosse team advancing to the semi-finals of the CACC Tournament for the first time in program history |
| Best Upset Award | Baseball team’s victory over Dominican College |
| Male LaMoy Award | Gamala Chambers (Track & Field) |
| Female LaMoy Award | Skylar Devorin (Softball) |
| Rob Roman Award | Lauren Chambers (Women’s Lacrosse) |
| Swoop-a-Star Award | Maurice Little and the Dining Hall Staff |
| Unsung Alum Award | Sean Sylvester, Campus Admissions Representative |
| Male Hard Hat Award | Nolan Mazako (Track & Field) |
| Female Hard Hat Award | Katelyn Andres (Women’s Basketball) |
| Comeback Athlete Award | Brycin Hernandez (Baseball) |
| Carmody Award | Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, Provost and Scott Allen, Senior Vice President |