Honoring the best and brightest Orange
The 2024 Cuse Awards were held last night to honor the Syracuse Orange athletes who have excelled on and off the field in the last year. Let’s look at some of the winners from last night:
Soladay Award Winners: Rayla Clemons (Ice Hockey) and Julius Rauch (Soccer)
This is the highest individual honor for a Syracuse athlete. It is awarded to those athletes who demonstrate the best combination of athletics, academics, service and leadership. The award recognizes those athletes who go above and beyond expectations and leave an impression on their teams and their communities.
Athletes of the Year: Dyaisha Fair (WBB) and Jaheem Hayles (Track)
Both athletes earned All-American honors this year. Fair leaves Syracuse as the NCAA’s 3rd all-time scorer and Hayles was this year’s ACC 60m hurdles champion and finished 6th in the NCAA Indoor Championships in the event.
Here were the full nominees for the award:
Meet the nominees for Athlete of the Year!#CuseAwards pic.twitter.com/992658VhDV
— Syracuse Athletics (@Cuse) April 30, 2024
Team of the Year: Women’s Lacrosse and Men’s Cross-Country
Despite the loss to BC last weekend, the Orange women were the ACC regular season champions for the first time in program history. A top-10 NCAA finish for men’s cross-country was selected over strong 2023 seasons from men’s rowing and men’s soccer.
Syracuse 8 Courage Award: Felisha Legette-Jack
Recovering from a non-cancerous brain tumor, which caused her to miss time leading up to the 23-24 season, Legette-Jack returned to guide the Orange to an incredible season.
FLJ: Syracuse 8 Courage Award recipient and inspiration to us all. #CuseAwards pic.twitter.com/onYo1wzOAF
— Syracuse Athletics (@Cuse) April 30, 2024
Game of the Year: Tennis beating #8 NC State
These awards always strive to provide balance among the award winners. This was a match where the Orange had to rally and win the final four singles matches to take the victory.
Performance of the Year: Rowing V8 boat and Jaheem Hayles win ACC titles
The Orange V8 boat won the first ACC title in the V8 competition in Syracuse history. Hayles continued the Syracuse tradition in hurdling with his win at the ACC Indoor Championships.
Rookie of the Year: Kaci Benoit and Riley Figueiras (Lacrosse)
There might have been a couple of other strong candidates for this award, but it makes sense to honor players who haven’t entered the transfer portal. Both Benoit and Figueiras have been integral defenders for their respective teams.
Play of the Year: Willemijn Boogert (Field Hockey)
This diving tip-in is pretty pretty pretty good
Coach of the Year: Felisha Legette-Jack (WBB) Luke McGee (W. Rowing) and Brien Bell (XC/Track)
Each of these coaches led their squads to great success in this last year. Could this be Fran Brown’s award next year?
The Cuse Awards also recognized Matthew Scrape (cross country), Emma Klien (soccer) and Charlotte Ebel (rowing) with the ‘Cuse Scholars Award for posting a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average during their entire Syracuse career.
Six Orange student-athletes received the ACC Service Award for their community involvement: Asyia Cobb, Liesel Oden and Julius Rauch (soccer), LeQuint Allen (football), Katherine Kelly and Tristian Wakefield (rowing). Syracuse’s recipients of the ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year- Tatum White (ice hockey) and rower Reilly Eagan (rowing) were also recognized during the ceremony.
Here’s the full list of Team Award winners:
- Men’s Basketball Maliq Brown
- Women’s Basketball Dyaisha Fair
- Cheer Samantha Stahlbrodt
- Men’s Cross Country Perry Mackinnon
- Women’s Cross Country Savannah Roark
- Dance Alexandra Lund
- Field Hockey Eefke van den Nieuwenhof
- Football Marlowe Wax
- Ice Hockey Marielle McHale
- Men’s Lacrosse Will Mark
- Women’s Lacrosse Natalie Smith
- Mascot Justin Stitt
- Men’s Rowing Cole Nordby
- Women’s Rowing Aphrodite Gioulekas
- Men’s Soccer Buster Sjoberg
- Women’s Soccer Shea Vanderbosch
- Softball Angel Jasso
- Tennis Miyuka Kimoto
- Women’s Track Savannah Roark
- Men’s Track Jaheem Hayles
- Volleyball Alyssa Bert
- Mascot Maya Vidal
Congratulations to all the nominees and winners