Seton Hall Celebrates 2024 Graduating Seniors - Seton Hall University Athletics
Maplewood, N.J. – Seton Hall Athletics celebrated its 2024 graduating class with its annual Senior Banquet, held May 14 at Maplewood Country Club.
Maplewood, N.J. – Seton Hall Athletics celebrated its 2024 graduating class with its annual Senior Banquet, held May 14 at Maplewood Country Club.
The event is designed to honor the graduating class in front of their coaches, peers and family members. As is tradition, each head coach delivered remarks about their respective graduates and handed out their senior gifts. Assistant Athletics Director Peter Long served as emcee and was assisted by Director of Athletics Bryan Felt in handing out the major awards.
Five major awards were handed out during the marquee event. For her efforts both on the softball field and within the department as a growing member of the media who took time to interview and highlight her fellow student-athletes, Sydney Babik (Gilbert, Ariz.) was named Seton Hall Athletics Senior Most Valuable Pirate.
Men's soccer's Mark Walier (Holmdel, N.J.) was named the Senior Male Scholar Athlete of the Year, and women's swimming & diving's Josie McCartney (Verona, Wisc.) and Madeline Field (Wheaton, Ill.) were named co-receipients of the Senior Female Scholar Athlete of the Year award. All three student-athletes are graduating with a 4.0 GPA.
There were co-recipients of the Senior Male Athlete of the Year Award as Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, N.Y.) of the men's basketball team and Wenliang Xie (Burbank, Calif.) were both honored.
Richmond was a first-team All-BIG EAST, first-team All-Met and first-team NABC All-District selection after finishing as the only player in the BIG EAST in the top 11 in scoring (15.7 points per game), rebounding (6.9 rebounds per game) and assists (5.1 assists per game). In five NIT games, Richmond averaged 13.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists en route to the Pirates winning their first NIT championship since 1953.
A first-team All-BIG EAST honoree, Xie enjoyed one of the greatest single-year golf efforts in Seton Hall history. He tallied six top-10 finishes, 15 sub-par rounds and six sub-par tournaments, all career-highs. Most recently, Xie led Seton Hall to its second BIG EAST Championship in three years with an even-par, 70-74-72-216, which tied for third overall and earned him All-Tournament status.
There were also co-recipients of the Senior Female Athlete of the Year Award with graduate student Silvia Alessio (Trieste, Italy) of the women's swimming & diving team and Azana Baines (Blackwood, N.J.) of the women's basketball team garnering the honors.
In her only season with Seton Hall, Alessio made an incredible impact, reaching the diving final in every meet she competed and winning all but two of them. She was dominant at the BIG EAST Championship, capturing gold in the 3-meter dive with a program and BIG EAST record score of 337.50 and taking silver in the 1-meter dive. She was named the BIG EAST Most Outstanding Female Diver.
Also a first-team All-BIG EAST selection, Baines had a breakout campaign in her final year as a collegiate athlete. Named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll seven times, she upped her scoring and rebounding averages from 8.5 points and 4.0 rebounds last year to 14.7 points and 6.0 rebounds in 2023-24. A starter in every BIG EAST game, she completed the regular season one of only three players in the conference to rank among the top-12 in points, rebounds, steals and blocks.
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