ANNVILLE, Pa. (Conference News) – The Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) has announced its conference weekly award recipients for the week ending Jan. 29, 2023. A total of 18 student-athletes were recognized for performances from Jan. 23-29, 2023.
MEN'S BASKETBALL (#MAChoops)
MAC Commonwealth Player of the Week
Collin Jones (Lebanon Valley / Sr., F / Lock Haven, Pa.) earns his third conference weekly award this season. Jones had a pair of double-doubles to lead the Dutchmen to a 1-1 week with 43 points and 27 rebounds. The senior started the week with game-highs of 24 points and 13 rebounds in a tough 85-76 road defeat at Albright. Jones led a second half comeback scoring 11 of his points in an eight-minute span as the Dutchmen turned a 21-point deficit into a four-point game with seven minutes left. Jones then powered the Dutchmen to an overtime win over Stevenson on Saturday with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Jones, who had two points in the first half, took over in the overtime period knocking down a pair of threes to put up six with two minutes left of the 81-73 win. Jones has now recorded double-doubles in the last six games.
MAC Freedom Player of the Week
Jalen Watkins (Arcadia / Sr., F / Philadelphia, Pa.) earns his fourth conference weekly award this season. Watkins recorded two double-doubles, including 46 points and 29 rebounds on the Knights’ 1-1 week. In Arcadia's 84-71 win over FDU-Florham, Watkins tallied 20 points, 15 rebounds, one block and one steal. In the Knights’ closely contested match-up against Misericordia, he had 26 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and a steal.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (#MAChoops)
MAC Commonwealth Player of the Week
Kate Fitzpatrick (Lebanon Valley / Jr., G / Middletown, Pa.) earns her second conference weekly award this season. The junior guard scored 49 points to lead LVC to a 1-1 week while shooting over 50 percent from the field. The junior was 19-36 on field goals including 5-14 from beyond the arc. She began the week with a game-high 27 points and five rebounds in a 62-50 defeat at Albright. The guard was 10-20 from the field, 3-9 on threes, and a perfect 4-4 at the line against the Lions. The 27 points are one point shy of her career-high and the third-most in a game in the conference this season. Fitzpatrick finished the week with 22 points and five rebounds in a 58-42 win over Stevenson in which the Dutchmen never trailed. The junior scored the first six points of the game and had 10 points in the first quarter where LVC built a 15-11 lead. The junior was 9-16 from the field and 2-3 at the line in the important win over the Mustangs.
MAC Freedom Player of the Week
Jess Broad (Stevens / Gr., G/F / Morganville, N.J.) earns her third conference weekly award this season. Broad averaged 17 points and 8.5 rebounds in a 2-0 week for No.18 Stevens. Against Delaware Valley, Broad 16 points and seven boards and then against Wilkes, she posted her fifth double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds. All totaled, Broad had 34 points on 16 of 29 shooting (55.1%), while also grabbing 17 rebounds, nabbing seven steals, blocking six shots and dishing out seven assists.
MEN'S ICE HOCKEY (#MAChky)
MAC Offensive Player of the Week
Denys Arkhypenko (King’s / So., F / Kyiv, Ukraine) was fantastic leading King's to a weekend split with Alvernia, tallying four goals across two games. In the weekend opener on Friday, the sophomore opened the scoring midway through the first period, finishing off a nifty passing play, before driving hard to the net early in the second period to pick up a rebound goal, for his second of the game. Arkhypenko, continued his hot stretch of play on Saturday once again opening the scoring, this time taking a feed and firing across goal to put King's up 1-0. With the Monarchs up 3-1 midway through the third period, Arkhypenko put the game out of reach, driving to goal line and going short side off the crossbar, for his second goal of the game, as King's took down Alvernia 5-1.
MAC Defensive Player of the Week
Ryan Kenny (Stevenson / Sr., G / Sparta, N.J.) returned from his sting with team USA in form, stopping all 37 shots he face enroute to a 2-0 weekend over Arcadia. The senior goaltender made 14 saves in the first meeting before stopping 23 to secure a 5-0 shutout of the knights.
WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY (#MAChky)
MAC Co-Offensive Players of the Week
Bella Kaczorowski (Wilkes / Jr., F / Anchorage, Ak.) earns her second conference weekly award of the season. The junior had had a game-winning goal against Arcadia University on Friday to help the Colonels go 1-1 on the week. She scored her goal in overtime against the Knights 2:29 into the period. She also won 11 of her 30 faceoffs this week while adding a block.
Cheyenne Wilk (Lebanon Valley / So., F / Burlington, N.J.) scored her third game-winning goal of the year to give LVC a 2-1 victory over Stevenson for the program's first-ever win over the Mustangs in a 1-0-1 weekend. Wilk put home a rebound with 2:39 left in Friday night's contest on her fourth shot of the game. The sophomore ended the week with four shots and a faceoff win in a 2-2 tie at Stevenson where the Dutchmen earned the extra point with a 1-0 shootout win.
MAC Defensive Player of the Week
Emma Swansburg (Wilkes / So., G / Shelburne, Nova Scotia) helped the Colonels to a series split with Arcadia in MAC play as the sophomore earned her first NCAA victory. She stopped 44 of 45 shots in a 2-1 overtime victory including all seven shots she faced in the OT period. The next day Swansburg made 40 saves on 44 shots to total 84 saves over the two games with a .944 save percentage.
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD (#MACtf)
MAC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week
Cameron Summers (Stevenson / Sr. / Riverdale, Md.) earns his second conference weekly award this season. Summers clocked a blazing time of 6.98 seconds in the 60m finals at the Bison Open & Multi, hosted by Bucknell, which gave him first place overall in a field of Division I, II and III athletes. Summers currently has the top time in the Middle Atlantic Conference (6.92), second best in the Mid-Atlantic region and is tied for 28th in the nation. Summers added a win in the 200-meter with a time of 22.73.
MAC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week
Alex Kristeller (Widener / Jr. / Kingston, Pa.) had another stand out performance this week at the Seamus McElligott Invite. Kristeller hit a mark of 20.27 meters in the weight throw, which just missed his MAC record of 20.39. Kristeller currently sits at second in the nation, just 0.5 meters behind in the weight throw and leads the MAC by over two meters.
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD (#MACtf)
MAC Women’s Track Athlete of the Week
Laura Mathews (Stevens / Sr. / Denville, N.J.) won both the 60-meter hurdles and the 400-meter dash at the Conference Challenge Cup. Mathews won the 60 hurdles in 8.79 seconds and in her first collegiate 400, the senior topped the field in 57.93 seconds. Her 60 hurdles prelim time of 8.63 seconds was just three-hundredths-of-a-second off her record-setting time from earlier in the season.
MAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week
Julia Pena (York / Sr. / Highland Mills, N.Y.) earns her fourth conference weekly award of the season. Pena carried the banner for the Green and White at the Min-Dip Invitational Friday night as she won all three events she competed in which were the 60-meter hurdles, long jump (5.19m) and pole vault. The senior reached a height of 3.73 meters in the pole vault, falling just short of her season-best height 3.81 meters, which ranks second in the nation. Pena lowered her own school record by 0.01 in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.98 which is good for second in the Middle Atlantic Conference this season.
SWIMMING (#MACswim)
MAC Men's Swimmer of the Week
PJ Cronauer (Messiah / So. / West Chester, Pa.) helped the Falcons to a pair of victories over Albright and Misericordia, winning three events on Saturday afternoon. Cronauer won the 1000 Free, timing in at 10:12.42, 42 seconds ahead of fellow teammate Ben Pinto. Cronauer would also win the 100 Free with a time of 49.88 as well as the 500 Free with a time of 4:55.62.
MAC Women's Swimmer of the Week
Tasmin Formon (Misericordia / Fr. / Gilette, N.J.) earns her fourth conference weekly award of the season. Formon set a school and pool record in a tri-match sweep of Albright and Messiah to help the team complete its first undefeated regular season. Broke her own school record with the top time in the MAC this season in the 1000 free (10:58.75) and added a win in the 500 free. Was part of a Messiah pool record to win the 200 free relay.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL (#MACvb)
MAC Men’s Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week
Mason Nissley (Messiah / Sr., OH / Manheim, Pa.) was a huge part of Messiah's 4-0 trip to Ohio that saw the Falcons defeat Mount Union (3-2), Mount St. Joseph (3-0), Aurora (3-1), and No. 1 Carthage (3-0). Nissley was strong all week, but really turned things up against No. 1 Carthage in the Falcons' sweep. Nissley ended with 24 kills in the three-set match with just three errors and a .525 hitting percentage. The senior posted 65 total kills on the week with a .328 overall hitting percentage.
MAC Men’s Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week
Sam Capwell (King’s / Sr., MH / Bethlehem, Pa.) led King's to a 3-0 week and helped the Monarchs to their best start in program history at 7-0. Capwell recorded nine kills at 1.13 blocks per set, 12 kills and four digs. He started the week with four blocks in a 3-0 win at Cairn to go along with four kills and two digs. He then posted two blocks with five kills and a dig in a 3-0 win over St. Joseph's University Brooklyn before tallying three blocks in just two sets with three kills and a dig in the 3-0 win over Bryn Athyn.
WRESTLING (#MACwrestle)
MAC Wrestler of the Week
Dalton Rohrbaugh (York (Pa.) /Gr. / Spring Grove, Pa.) earns his second conference weekly award of the season. The ninth-ranked graduate student went 4-0 to capture the 133-pound title at the Ken Ober Memorial Tournament hosted by Elizabethtown on Saturday. The Spartan graduate student out-scored his opponents 53-6 with one fall and three technical falls on his way to capturing the title. He punctuated his title pursuit by blanking Sean Rinebolt (Shenandoah), 17-0, in the title bout. Rohrbaugh tied for the tournament lead with 22.5 team points and ranked fourth among all wrestlers with his 53 total match points on the day.