LAWRENCEVILLE--Senior Jazmine Fenlator of the track & field team, junior Don Fisch of the wrestling team, and junior Jason Thompson of the basketball team have been named the winners of the Clair Bee Trophy as Rider University Athletes of the Year for 2006-07.

“All three of these athletes have accomplished a lot, both regionally and nationally, and with that they brought regional and national recognition to Rider,” said Rider Director of Athletics Don Harnum. “All three are very deserving of this award. The Clair Bee trophy has a great tradition.”

Clair Bee was an accounting professor at Rider and founded the varsity athletics program in 1929. Rider's first director of athletics, Bee coached football, basketball and baseball at Rider, and earned national prominence as a basketball innovator, inventing the shot clock, and suggesting the three-second rule. He is also the author of the famous Chip Hilton book series. Bee was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. He was a charter member of the Rider Athletics Hall of Fame, and a trophy named in his honor is presented annually to Rider's Athletes of the Year.

“I was very excited about how the year went,” said Fenlator '07, who won the award for the second consecutive year. Fenlator was named the Most Outstanding Performer at both the Indoor and Outdoor Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Track & Field Championships, leading Rider to a pair of team titles as a senior.

Fisch '08 earned All-America honors at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, finishing fifth in the nation in his 141-pound weight class as a junior. “It's a great honor to get this award,” said Fisch, Rider's 12th All-American wrestler since 1980.

Thompson '08 was a First Team All-MET (NY-NJ Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association) and collegeinsider.com Mid-Major All-American. “This is definitely an honor, especially being a junior,” said Thompson, who was one of just three Division I players to average both 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. The other two were recently drafted, second and 34th, respectively, in the NBA draft.

“Jason has been such a great player for us the past few years and it is always nice to see people recognize that,” said Rider's head men's basketball coach Tommy Dempsey.

A 6'11" forward and a communication major from Mt. Laurel, NJ, Thompson was a First Team All-MAAC and Second Team All-District 3 selection, finishing 10th in the nation in rebounding, 24th in scoring and 34th in blocked shots. “Being named one of the top athletes in the University is quite an honor, which makes all of the hard work pay off,” Thompson said. “My freshman and sophomore years I was learning a lot from the upperclassmen and looking up to the seniors. This year I felt I was one of the leaders on the team and needed to step up my game.”

Fisch was 7-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association and at nationals was 4-2, losing only to the top seed (3-2) and to the eventual third place finisher (6-5), and finished his season 33-10 overall. “Out of the entire University, there are only a couple of people who get this award, so I feel honored,” Fisch said.

“Donnie had a wonderful NCAA tournament and I'm very proud of him,” said Gary Taylor, head wrestling coach. “To be an All-American in wrestling is not a voting situation,” Taylor said. “You have to do it on the mat. Donnie beat the kid from Nebraska, he beat the kid from West Virginia, and he beat the kid from Minnesota. He's beating kids from the top programs in the country, and that is what you have to do to earn what he has earned. I'm very proud of the way he represented Rider University at nationals.”

A liberal arts major from Williamstown, NJ, Fisch enters his senior year with an 89-25 record as a three-time NCAA qualifier. “To be honest, this year wasn't any greater than my previous years, as far as the way I wrestled,” Fisch said. “It just ended a lot better. I guess the way it ended made it a pretty good year.”

Fenlator won five MAAC gold medals this year, earned All-East honors in four different events, set new Rider records in five different events, and qualified for the NCAA Regional Championship in three events. “Going into my senior year we set a lot of goals as a team to win championships, to get more and more people to the ECACs,” said Fenlator. “As the season went on, seeing my teammates break records left and right, some records 10 years old, and winning the MAAC team championship both indoor and outdoor, made it a very exciting year.”

“It's great that she has won the award two years in a row,” said Rob Pasquariello, track & field head coach. “She's been the driving force for the women's team for four years. We broke new ground with her, qualifying for big meets with her. She paved the way.”

A journalism major from Wayne, NJ, who graduated magna cum laude, Fenlator was Rider's New Jersey AIAW Woman of the Year and the MAAC's nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award this year. As a junior she was named one of the top 25 performers in the 25-year history of the MAAC, covering all sports except basketball.

“I really enjoyed my time at Rider,” said Fenlator, who was named to CoSIDA's “ESPN The Magazine” Academic All-District 2 women's track and field/cross country team and to the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association 2007 All-Academic Team. “I learned a lot of valuable lessons, both on the athletic and academic side. I am very appreciative of the opportunities that enabled me to prepare for my future successes.”

Clair Bee would have been proud.

-RU-