WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University athletics department presented the 2018-19 departmental awards as well as inducting the seventh class of Colonels Elite Thursday at the Extracurricular Awards Luncheon held in the Ballroom of the Henry Student Center.
 
The prestigious Colonels Elite is a society comprised of student-athletes who show the same fire, determination, and success in the class room as they show on the field. To be a member of the Colonels Elite, a student-athlete must have 60 credits and a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher. Transfer student-athletes must have 60 college credits total, and 30 credits from Wilkes. The student-athlete must be in good moral character as determined by the athletic department and the student-athlete must currently be on a Wilkes roster.
 
The 2019 Colonels Elite inductees are as follows:
 
Cole Walters – Wrestling
Keaton Allison – Baseball
Jonah Harder – Baseball
Nicholas Malatesta – Baseball
Nolan Ott – Baseball
Brandon Reno – Baseball
Haley Gayoski – Field Hockey
Kyra Boccio – Women's Lacrosse
Edward Lukowski – Men's Soccer/Men's Golf
Xavier Abdella – Men's Ice Hockey
Jivan Sidhu – Men's Ice Hockey
Nicholas Lorenzo – Men's Lacrosse
Daniel Mack – Men's Swimming
Alec Levin – Men's Tennis
Kevin Singhel – Men's Cross Country
Celine Podlesney – Softball
Kristie Najdek – Women's Volleyball/Women's Basketball
Gianna Roberts – Women's Basketball
Michael Brown – Wrestling
Nicholas Racanelli – Wrestling
Thomas Stokes – Wrestling
Catherine Gregoire – Women's Soccer
Nicole Harmer – Women's Soccer
Shayna Fehrle – Women's Volleyball
Julie Murphy – Women's Volleyball
Kaitlin Sutton – Women's Cross Country
 
In addition to the Colonels Elite, the four annual departmental awards handed out were the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Female Athlete of the Year, the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the Male Athlete of the Year.
 

Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Haley Welker, Softball
Welker, with a 3.97 GPA as a Middle Level Education major, is a four-year member of the Wilkes softball team who has appeared in 126 games with 117 starts. She was selected First Team All-MAC Freedom her sophomore season and to the Second Team as a junior. Welker is currently sixth in the program record book with 13 home runs and seventh with a career .354 batting average, 73 RBI's, 79 runs scored and a .556 slugging percentage. She currently stands tenth with 118 hits after reaching the 100-hit mark as a junior. Welker is a member of the prestigious Colonels Elite and was named to the MAC Academic Honor Roll in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and to the Academic All-MAC Softball Team as a sophomore. She was also named an NFCA Academic All-American Scholar-Athlete twice.


Female Athlete of the Year: Haley Gayoski, Field Hockey
Gayoski was named First Team All-MAC Freedom for the fourth time in her career and was also selected Second Team All-South Atlantic Region by Longstreth/NFHCA and Second Team All-ECAC. She was also named to the Fall Academic All-MAC team this season. She was named the MAC Freedom Offensive Player of the Week on September 24th and was the ECAC Division III – North Defensive Player of the Month for October. She was selected to play in the Victory Sports Tours/NFHCA Division III Senior Game after recording her career-high with 22 points this season while ranking eighth in the MAC Freedom.


Male Athlete of the Year: Donald Flynn, Men's Ice Hockey
Flynn was named the UCHC Rookie of the Year and to the UCHC All-Rookie Team while also being selected Second Team All-UCHC and First Team All-MAC in his first season at Wilkes. He was selected to the D3hockey.com National Team of the Week on November 1st. He also led the country in scoring among freshman while ranking 19th overall nationally. He was named the UCHC Rookie of the week four times and the MAC Offensive Player of the Week twice this past season.

Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Jack Fischer, Baseball
Fischer, with a 3.83 GPA as an Accounting major, is a four-year member of the Wilkes baseball team appearing in 130 games with 116 starts. He was named the ECAC Division III – North Player of the Month for March and reached 100 career hits on March 27th. He now stands at 120 career hits and holds a career .317 batting average with 28 doubles, 68 RBI's, 82 runs scored and a career .454 on-base percentage. Fischer was named to the MAC Sportsmanship Team last year. A member of the prestigious Colonels Elite society, Fischer was also named to the MAC Academic Honor Roll in 2016, 2017 and 2018.