May 13, 2008

Albany, N.Y. - Five Stony Brook University student-athletes were honored when the State University of New York announced its 2007-08 Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Awards which recognizes a combination of academic excellence and outstanding athletic achievement. Freshman Artem Baradach (Minsk, Belarus), sophomore Alex Felce (Stroud, England), senior Dana Hastie (Wellington, New Zealand), junior Kaitlin Leggio (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and sophomore Michael Stephan (Patchogue-Medford, N.Y.) were the Stony Brook honorees.

Baradach of the men's tennis team was recently named the 2008 America East Player of the Year and America East Rookie of the Year after stepping into the No. 1 singles position as a freshman. He shared the team lead with 18 singles wins and posted a team best record of 12-2 in dual matches.

A standout on the cross country and track teams, Felce became the first Stony Brook male runner to win the individual title at the America East cross country championships. During the outdoor track season he twice lowered the school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, qualifying for NCAA regional competition in that event.

Also a cross country/track standout, Hastie was a key component of the Stony Brook women's cross country team that captured its first-ever America East championship in the fall and then moved on to qualify for the NCAA Championships, another first for the team. Indoors she finished second at the America East Indoor Championships in the 5K with an NCAA provisional and school record time of 16:43.23. Moving outdoors she broke the school record in the 10,000 meters and won the 5,000-meter event at the Duke Invitational.

Third in the America East and 29th in the nation in points per game (4.07), Leggio had another outstanding season for the women's lacrosse team. She finished second in the conference and 19th in the country in assists per game (2.0) and was named first team All-America East for a third straight season as well as earning America East All-Academic honors.

Stephan is having a solid season for the baseball team, helping the squad to a first-place position in the America East standings with one week left in the regular season. He is leading the Seawolves in home runs and on-base percentage and ranks among the top-five in the nation in on-base percentage.