MIDDLESEX COLLEGE ATHLETICS TO HOLD COLTS SPIRIT AWARDS
On Wednesday, Middlesex College Athletics will host their annual Colts Achievement Awards to celebrate the great accomplishments of the department's student-athletes and coaches during the 2022-2023 school year.
The event will be held in the Park View Room in West Hall on the Middlesex College campus beginning at 5:00PM. The Colts Achievement Awards is an invitation-only event held for student athletes, coaches, athletic department staff and college administration.
"In putting together the presentation for this event, I really had an appreciation for how many great accomplishments our athletes had this year," said Director of Athletics Rocco Constantino. "Competing as a student-athlete while managing school and life is not easy, so to see so many athletes do so many great things really speaks a lot to the type of students we have here."
The ceremony will feature award announcements for each team by that team's head coach and departmental awards announced by Constantino. Each team will name a Most Valuable Player plus two additional awards while the department will hand out five major awards. In addition, Women's Soccer star Destiny Pagan will be recognized for being named the Middlesex College Honoree for National Girls and Women in Sports Day earlier this year.
The major awards to be handed out include the Male and Female Athletes of the Year, Coach of the Year, Vincent DeSario Award and Shannon Williams Colts Spirit Award. The Vincent DeSario Award is named for the former Middlesex College Men's Golf student-athlete who passed away in 2010 and recognizes a sophomore student-athlete who excelled in academics and athletics. The Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year Awards are voted on by the department's Head Coaches and staff while the Shannon Williams Colts Spirit Award and Vincent DeSario Awards are selected by Athletic Department Staff.
This year marks the first year that the newly established Shannon Williams Colts Spirit Award will be presented. The beloved longtime Middlesex College Athletics Equipment Aide passed away last fall after home soccer and volleyball matches on September 13. It will be awarded to the student-athlete who best displayed the values Shannon brought to the department every day: enthusiasm for Middlesex College Athletics, positivity, team spirit and selflessness.
"It's very important that we honor Shannon and we had many great candidates to choose from this year," said Constantino. "Shannon meant so much to so many people not just in the Middlesex College community, but around the state to all of the opposing athletes and coaches who came to Middlesex to compete. Nobody was more enthusiastic and positive about Colts sports than Shannon. I hope that in establishing this award, we will always keep Shannon's spirit alive at Middlesex."
This year was a banner year for the Colts as seven of their team sports qualified for the NJCAA Region 19 playoffs with four advancing to the semifinals. Five track athletes won National Championships, three athletes were named Player of the Year for Region 19 in their respective sports and seven athletes were named 1st Team All-Region in their respective sports.