Day 1 - Wednesday: Fall Sports
Day 2 - Thursday: Winter Sports
Day 5 - Sunday: Team of the Year, Men's Overall Bull of the Year, Women's Overall Bull of the Year
Team of the Year- Men’s Tennis
Going undefeated in MAC play is one thing, but doing that with a virtually new roster is unheard of. UB Men’s Tennis came out of nowhere to deliver the first team championship of the 2016-17 academic year for UB Athletics in dominant fashion.
The Bulls finished the year with just six losses to their name, five of them being Ivy League opponents who all finished in the top-six of the ITA Northeast region and #12 Texas A&M. With that on their resume and the fact that they took home a MAC Championship, it’s a no-brainer why Men’s Tennis is our team of the year.
Honorable Mentions: Women’s Tennis, Men’s Swimming and Diving, Men’s Soccer
Men’s Sports Bull of the Year- Mason Miller, Men’s Swimming and Diving
Mason Miller had a hand in SIX MAC Championships this year in the final season for Men’s Swimming and Diving. Only two athletes came anywhere close to that number—Megan Burns (5) and Joshua Gali (3). Also, put into perspective that the Men’s team had eight MAC Championships in total this season.
So if Miller doesn’t exist on Men’s Swim/Dive this year, three-fourths of the Men’s first place finishes and their third place overall finish in the MAC Championships would’ve been in jeopardy. That’s plenty to argue why he was the best UB Athletics had to offer on the men’s side this year.
Honorable Mentions: Joshua Gali, Russell Cicerone, Bryan Lantry
Women’s Sports Bull of the Year-
Megan Burns*, Women’s Swimming and Diving
For the second year in a row, Megan Burns was one of the outright best in UB Athletics. Winning a total of five MAC Championships, up three from last year and bringing her grand total to 10. That’s an unbelievable number and it definitely puts her in the conversation as one of the five greatest Bulls of all time. There’s absolutely no question to this pick because let’s be honest, what other athlete on the women’s side comes close to her in accomplishment and in how much her dominance means to the team?
Honorable Mentions: Tanja Stojanovska, JoAnna Smith
*2016 Winner
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That’ll do it for us. Thanks for another great year and congrats to all of the honorees this week!