LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ - Rider's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) presented its annual SAAC ESPYs Awards on Tuesday, April 30 in the Bart Luedeke Center Cavalla Room.  The SAAC ESPY's, a culmination of the year in Rider Athletics, highlights the accomplishments of teams and individuals in a variety of categories.
 
Nominations were submitted by student-athletes in each of the categories to determine the finalists in each category.  Once those finalists were established by the SAAC executive board with assistance from athletics administrators, votes were cast by each team's SAAC representatives.  To maintain integrity in the voting, each team was given two votes per category, but SAAC reps were not permitted to vote for their team or teammates.
 
"The SAAC ESPYs is a yearly highlight for our student-athletes," said Karin Torchia, Senior Associate Director of Athletics/SWA. "I especially want to recognize our SAAC executive board, led by President Rachel Schwenk and Vice President Paola Carlesso, whose hard work behind the scenes produced a top notch event. I would also like to acknowledge Liz Sapudar, Coordinator of Academics for Athletics, without whose guidance this event would not be possible."
 
2023-24 SAAC ESPYs Award Winners:
 
Best Team Upset

• Baseball Tops No. 6 Duke University

 
Most Outstanding Performance (Female)

• Mariah Stephens (Women's Track & Field)

 
Most Outstanding Performance (Male)

• Quinn Kinner (Wrestling)

 
Best Team Championship Performance

• Men's Soccer

 
Rookie of the Year (Female)

• Paige Giehtbrock (Volleyball)

 
Rookie of the Year (Male)

• Max Connelly (Men's Swimming & Diving)

 
Biggest Hypeman

• Brayden Murphy (Men's Swimming & Diving)

 
Biggest Hypewoman

• Ellie Sciancalepore (Women's Soccer)

 
Best International Athlete (Female)

• Genevieve Ryan (Women's Soccer)

 
Best International Athlete (Male)

• Babacar Diene (Men's Soccer)

 
Strongest Athlete (Female)

• Chika Efobi (Women's Track & Field)

 
Strongest Athlete (Male)

• David Szuba (Wrestling)

 
Best Breakthrough Athlete (Female)

• Kiannisha Santiago (Volleyball)

 
Best Breakthrough Athlete (Male)

• Colton Washleski (Wrestling)

 
Athlete of the Year (Female)

• Mariah Stephens (Women's Track & Field)

 
Athlete of the Year (Male)

• Quinn Kinner (Wrestling)

 
Broncs Supporting Broncs Award

• Men's Cross Country

 
Best Team at Preventative Care

• Women's Soccer