On Monday, Marist Athletics held its annual senior awards reception to honor the 2026 senior class. Softball outfielder Peyton Pusey and men’s track and field sprinter Amari Mathis took home the coveted Sportsperson of the Year Award on a night that honored every senior athlete at Marist.
To begin the event, all senior athletes were individually honored by their respective coaches during their speeches, many of which had special praise for the men’s lacrosse and its recent MAAC Championship victory. All senior athletes received an individualized plaque with their name on it just below the Red Fox logo.
After all the individual athletes were honored, assistant athletic director Mike Ferraro announced the major award winners.
Ferraro started by naming Marist’s first ever Team Strength Award recipients. These two awards, one for a men’s team another for a women’s team, went to the teams deemed to have accomplished the most in the weight room and displayed the most general physical ability.
The football team received the men’s award. In the team’s second year under head coach Mike Willis, it achieved its best record since 2012 and saw offensive lineman Brandon Furey set a school record back squat.
The volleyball team earned the women’s award following a season in which it upped its win total by seven games. Both the football and volleyball teams are led in the weight room by Marist’s head strength and conditioning coach, Aaron Suma. Suma has been at Marist for over a decade after he first became a head strength and conditioning coach in 2012 at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Following the Team Strength Award, Ferraro announced the individual Strength and Conditioning Award recipients: football’s Joey Patierno and women’s rowing’s Natalie Ronan.
Willis preached about the effort of Patierno in the weight room before presenting him with his senior plaque. Ronan was a captain and one of 12 seniors on the women’s rowing team which won the Jim Tucci Cup for the second consecutive year.
The next award went to the men’s and women’s athlete with the highest GPA among senior student athletes—the President’s Academic Award. Women’s lacrosse midfielder Shannon Maier and men’s rower Nicholas Fracasso each earned the award.
Since 1990, Marist Athletics has given out the James E. Pizzani Award to honor the life of James Pizzani. Pizzani was an advocate for Marist Athletics during his life and passed away after a battle with cancer in 1988. The award is presented to a male and female who has represented the school’s athletic department well.
Fracasso took yet another trip to the podium to receive the Pizzani Award. Fracasso has a laundry list of a resume, including being on the Student-Athlete Wellness Committee, teaching mindfulness on campus, having multiple 4.0 GPA terms, coaching high school rowing around Poughkeepsie and being a part of multiple honors societies. He has done all of this while battling through multiple significant injuries.
Women’s soccer’s Olivia Lindsay also earned the Pizzani Award. Lindsay served as a captain from the beginning of her sophomore season, graduated in the fall with a 3.8 GPA and was a member of the Priority Registration Committee. She was also an intern at the Center For Athlete Enhancement and was a McCann Arena supervisor for three years.
The night wrapped up with the Sportsperson of the Year Award, which is presented to the top men’s and women’s student-athletes throughout their Marist careers. This year, the men’s award had four candidates, while the women’s award had seven candidates.
The four candidates for the men’s award were Jose Catala (tennis), Elijah Lewis (basketball), Kevin McNamara (swimming and diving) and Mathis (track and field).
Mathis won the award after winning Outstanding Men’s Track Performer at the 2025 MAAC Outdoor Championships, where he won gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Mathis is a three-time MAAC champion who holds indoor school records in the 200-meter, 300-meter and sprint medley relay while also holding outdoor records in the 100-meter and sprint medley relay.
Mathis came into this season after a remarkably successful junior campaign with a determined mentality.
“I had to come back and defend my crown,” Mathis said. “I had to come in with the confidence that I was the best in my whole field.”
When asked about his upcoming opportunity to represent Team USA in Peru this summer, Mathis said he looks forward to the challenge as he hopes to represent Marist.
“I’m gonna continue to represent Marist, continue to represent my team, my coaches and my family,” Mathis said. “I’m gonna go in there, be confident and do what I do.”
The seven candidates for Women’s Sportsperson of the Year were Haley Ahr (softball), Julia Kropo (track and field), Paige Naegle (water polo), Genevieve O’Neil (swimming and diving), Ines Sanchez (water polo), Lexie Tarul (basketball) and Pusey (softball).
Pusey won after leading the MAAC in batting average, runs scored, hits and triples. The softball team finished first in the MAAC for the third straight year with a 24-3 in conference record. At Marist, she transformed from the high schooler sending handwritten letters just for them to be ignored by the Liberty softball staff to the player that hit a home run against them in a playoff game.
With the MAAC Playoffs just around the corner, Pusey’s primary thought as she received the award was simple:
“I wish I could play forever,” she said as she teared up.
While the award represents her own individual accreditation, she insists it is also about the team as a whole.
“Everything I do is reflective of my teammates,” Pusey said.
With most of Marist’s teams having concluded their seasons, men’s lacrosse, softball and baseball all remain in play. Men’s lacrosse faces Princeton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. while softball begins its quest for a second-consecutive MAAC Championship today at 5:30 p.m. Baseball has two series remaining before the MAAC Championships begin on May 23.
Edited by Max Rosen
Photo from Stockton Photo
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