DANBURY, Conn. - Western Connecticut State University celebrated its student-athletes at its annual Athletics Awards Banquet at the William A. O'Neill Athletic and Convocation Center on the school's Westside Campus. Close to 500 student-athletes, coaches and administrators were in attendance for the special event.  The attendees were treated to a fantastic 2024-25 recap video, while the emcee for the evening's event was WCSU Alumni Hall of Famer Bart Busterna and major awards were presented by WestConn Director of Athletics Lori Mazza.



The evening began with the Wolves' head coaches handing out orange stoles to WestConn's nearly 120 graduating seniors.  Next WestConn's Chi Alpha Sigma inductees and members were recognized for their excellence in both the classroom and in athletic competition. Chi Alpha Sigma recognizes college students who play at the NCAA level all while maintaining a 3.4 or higher cumulative GPA,  starting in their academic junior and/or senior years.  The awards were presented by the coaching staffs and WestConn Faculty Athletics Representative Julie Perrelli, PhD.  Junior inductees received a certificate, and seniors received a medallion that is worn at graduation.  In all, 68 WestConn student-athletes were recognized as Chi Alpha Sigma members.

After dinner, the awards program began with the Overall Team Grade-Point Average Award. The award for highest team grade-point average honors an NCAA-eligible team's academic effort, not the efforts of the individual athletes.  The team concept seems to shine through here at WestConn and acknowledging a team not only for the accomplishments on the court/field/pool but in the classroom is equally as important.  Eleven of 21 sports teams earned an overall g.p.a. of 3.02 or better.  WestConn men's tennis has the highest team g.p.a. of 3.32, followed closely behind by WestConn women's tennis with a 3.30, and WestConn softball had a 3.19.  Both tennis teams are coaches by Shawn Stillman.

The WestConn Scholar Athlete of the Year award was given to five athletes in 2025, a testament to the high academic achievement of so many Wolves student-athletes.  The award goes to the female and male athlete with the highest cumulative g.p.a. who at least of sophomore standing.  WestConn women's soccer seniors Suzana Imetovski (Seymour, Conn.) and Annie Sobolewski(Lagrangeville, N.Y.)  received the Female Scholar Athlete of the Year award for the third consecutive time each, as both maintained a 4.0 g.p.a. throughout each of the last three academic years.  Seniors Kenneth Okoroafor (Trumbull, Conn.) and Kevin Wood (Bethel, Conn.) and junior Justin Rivest (Repetigny, Quebec) recieved the Male Scholar Athlete of the Year award, as each held a 3.93 g.p.a.

Imetovski has been an all-conference player every season of her soccer career, which she completed in 2024 with 40 goals and 39 assists for 79 career points.  She has been selected for the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team, and the Little East Conference (LEC) All-Academic Team in every season of her eligibility.  Imetovski, a nursing major, was recently given the Outstanding Graduating Senior Biology Major award during convocation.  She has been a physical therapy technician at Greenwood PT in Bethel, Connecticut, and has worked as a PASS mentor here at WestConn. Imetovski has been accepted and enrolled in the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program at Sacred Heart University for the upcoming fall.  

Sobolewski, also a nursing major, is a four-year WestConn soccer player and was a starter in the backfield in 2024, helping the team reach the LEC Finals. She played a key role on the Wolves defense that allowed just 1.05 goals per game and graced the CSC Academic All-District and LEC All-Academic Teams.  Sobolewski is pursuing a career in pediatric nursing. She has been working as a CNA at the rehab center in Poughkeepsie, New York. She also was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau international honor society of nursing which connects her with post-grad and nursing residency programs.  

Okoroafor was a four-year wide receiver for the Wolves football team and in 2024-25, he was on WestConn's first-ever track and field squads as a sprinter and jumper.  Okoaroafor won the 60-meter dash at the Wesleyan Invitational, totaled 10 top-ten finishes in sprints and relays, and helped Wolves relay teams score points in both the indoor and outdoor LEC Championships.  Okoroafor will earn his bachelor's degree in criminal justice with a concentration of criminology and a g.p.a. of 3.93. Upon graduation he will work at Bridgeport Superior Court as a paralegal. He plans to pursue a master's degree in criminology or attend law school. 

Wood earned this award in 2024 in his final year of eligibility as a starting defensive lineman for the Wolves football squad, but pursued a second major and competed as a fifth-year senior on the men's track and field team in its inaugural year at WestConn.  Wood has been one of its top Wolves' competitors in the throwing events this winter and spring.  Wood plans to eventually work in quantitative finance. Currently he is interning with Ives Bank as a commercial lending intern which he hopes to continue into a full-time role.   Next fall, Wood hopes to pursue a master's degree in financial engineering.  Wood boasts majors in both finance and applied mathematics.

Rivest is a nursing major and a junior goalkeeper on WestConn's LEC Championship men's soccer team. His dedication and leadership on the team is parallel to him being a model representative of the university's values off the field.  Rivest was honored this year with the prestigious Stephen C. Ward Community Service Award, which recognizes students who demonstrate exceptional commitment to both academic achievement and meaningful service to others.  

WestConn's Rookie Athlete of the Year is given annually to the male and female freshman athlete who contributed the most to his/her team and whose performance indicates future contributions.  Each varsity team nominates a player for this award and the 2025 WestConn Athletics Male Rookie of the Year was Jake Kelly (Bethpage, N.Y.).  Kelly is a freshman goalkeeper for the WestConn men's lacrosse team who emerged as the Wolves starting goalie during the team's spring break trip to Florida and has been nothing short of spectacular at the back of the defense.  He totaled 116 saves for a .500 save percentage and posted an 8.93 Goals Against Average.  He was honored as both the LEC Goalie and Rookie of the Week during his first spring in Danbury.  Kelly has an overall 3.76 g.p.a. as a business major.

The WestConn Female Rookie of the Year was Annalee Holcomb (New Milford, Conn.), a runner for the WestConn cross country and track and field teams.  In cross country, Holcomb was the Wolves' fastest runner in both the LEC and the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championship Meets.  In indoor track and field, she really came into her own, particularly in the 400 meters.  Holcomb earned LEC All-Rookie and All-Conference honors and garnering the conference's Rookie Track Athlete of the Year Award.  Holcomb maintains a 3.50 g.pa. in biology.

The purpose of the WestConn Athlete of the Year awards is to recognize one male and one female athlete for their outstanding performances in the athletic arena. Each varsity team submits a nominee who must have maintain acceptable academic performance and the Female Athlete of the Year is Molly Bresnahan (Noank, Conn.), a senior communications major and a captain and goalkeeper for the WestConn women's lacrosse team.  Bresnahan ranked seventh in all of Division III for save percentage and led the LEC statistically from start to finish. She was rightfully named LEC Goalie of the Week five times and the conference goalkeeper of the year.  Bresnahan totaled over 400 saves, including 300 across the past two seasons, led the Wolves with 44 ground balls and added1 5 caused turnovers while leading WestConn to the LEC Championship title, the NCAA Tournament, and to a win over Merchant Marine in the NCAA opening round.  She has earned her place in the record books, now sitting third all-time in program history for saves.

This year's Male Athlete of the Year was Julian Duque (Mastic, N.Y.).  Duque is a senior men's lacrosse attackman for the 2025 LEC Champion Wolves, the 2022 LEC Rookie of the Year, a four-time all-conference honoree, and the 2024 and 2025 LEC Offensive Player of the Year who has carved his name into the history of WestConn Lacrosse.  Duque is the most prolific scorer in the history of the program. He walks away from his college career with 253 goals and 309 total points, making him the only player in WestConn history to surpass the 300-point mark. He added 57 assists, and picked up 103 ground balls and was the most prolific scorer the LEC for four seasons. Duque will graduate with a degree in health and wellness management.

The final award given at the 2025 WestConn Athletics Banquet was the Athlete of Distinction award, established to recognize a student-athlete each year who exhibits the following attributes; dedication to their sport, positive attitude, athletic ability, citizenship, character, leadership, and sportsmanship.  They are expected to contribute to their sport, to the classroom experience, and to the greater community at large.  Each varsity team submitted a nominee and Wolves softball senior Brianna Malvino (Glen Cove, N.Y.) was this year's recipient of this prestigious honor.  

Malviono, a starting outfielder for the Wolves, personifies the idea of a student-athlete having a lasting and "distinctive" impact on her campus.  Her excellence in the classroom and both her team's and her individual successes on the softball diamond, while impressive, only begin to tell the story of how Brianna Malvino has changed WestConn for the better over her four years in Danbury.  Malvino batted .275 with nine doubles, two homers and 21 RBIs while helping WestConn's softball go 24-20 and advance deep into the 2025 LEC Championship Tournament.m Malvino has been a Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) rep since 2021 and works for both WestConn Recreation and its Accessibility Services.

She has been a member of the Kathwari Honors Program as an Allied Health major since 2021 and has made the Dean's List every semester.  Malvino has played a major role during WestConn's softball's participation in the WestConn's Day of Service each year. Along with her teammates, she puts on the WestConn softball fall clinics.  She has earned CSC Academic All-District, LEC All-Academic, and Chi Alpha Sigma academic honors multiple times each. Malvino is active in the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce, organizing gift baskets and volunteering at various events. She is involved with the Glen Cove Softball and Baseball Association and has been a Breast Cancer Walk and a Ben's Bells volunteer. 

Perhaps her most impressive impact is her efforts on behalf of I Play For You, which builds awareness and promotes donations toward the fight against cancer.  Malvino created the Play for Me initiative during high school, when it struck close to home when a childhood friend was diagnosed with cancer and then later in her sophomore year of high school when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has gone on to successfully implement the Play for Me Initiative  at WestConn during this year's fall season.  She combined her two interests of sports and civic engagement to create the "I Play For You" campaign by using social media and flyers around the community to recruit honorees for the game. Teams wore either yellow or pink for the type of cancer they had, a poster with their name was made to represent them, and a speech was made before the game.  Malvino will graduate Magna Cum Laude with a cumulative grade-point of 3.74 in allied health.