Four Honored With Awards at Senior Athlete Recognition Luncheon

BOSTON, Mass. – On Friday afternoon, the Wentworth Institute of Technology Department of Athletics honored the 38 student-athletes who are members of the Class of 2017 at the annual student-athlete recognition luncheon.

The 38 student-athletes were a part of 513 career wins, five conference championships, and three NCAA Tournament appearances. Fifteen of these 38 were named all-conference at least one time during their careers and the cumulative grade point average of this group is 3.10. An impressive 23 of these seniors graduated with a 3.00 grade point average of better.

In addition to the seniors being recognized, the department acknowledged four student-athletes with awards. Senior Sean Farmer (Billerica, Mass.) or the men's lacrosse team earned the Carl A. Swanson Scholar-Athlete Award while Rachel Perras (Portsmouth, R.I.) took home the Eugenia Louise Sweeney Scholar-Athlete Award.

The Swanson Award was first given in 1985 and originally honored a male and/or female student-athlete who has excelled, both athletically and academically, while showing exemplary character. The recipient of this award must have exhausted his and/or her athletic eligibility in the year they are honored. Beginning in 2002, this award, named after the late, longtime Dean of Students at Wentworth, became eligible to male student-athletes only.

A Mechanical Engineering major, Farmer was a four-year letterwinner for the Leopards and served as a captain this past season. He started all 16 games in which he appeared and led the team with 55 ground balls while his 13 goals were third on the team and 19 points ranked him fifth on the team. In 62 career games Farmer recorded 22 goals and 13 assists for 35 points while scooping up 132 ground balls and causing 22 turnovers. On the Leopards' career list he ranks seventh in games played, 12th in caused turnovers, and 14th in ground balls. Farmer is a two-time Academic All-Commonwealth Coast Conference selection.

First given in 2002, the Sweeney Award annually honors a female student-athlete who has excelled, both athletically and academically, while showing exemplary character. The recipient of this award must have exhausted her athletic eligibility in the year she is honored. The award is named after the late Mrs. Sweeney, who with her late husband, Myles Elliott '28, have been tremendous benefactors to Wentworth and the field which Wentworth's soccer, lacrosse, and softball teams bear their name.

Perras was a four-year member of the Leopard women's soccer team who served as a captain during both her junior and senior seasons. This past season she helped the program make history, capturing both the Commonwealth Coast Conference Regular-Season and Tournament Championships while advancing to the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. All of which were firsts for a female sports team in Wentworth's athletic history. Starting 18 of the 23 games in which she played, she helped the Black & Gold post a program record 14 shutouts and a 0.59 goals against average. For her career, she started 75 of the 84 games in which she played and notched four career assists. Her 84 games played rank her third in program history while she is third in games started. As a freshman she was an Honorable Mention All-CCC selection and this past season because the 26th Wentworth student-athlete to be named to the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District Team. A Computer Science major, she earned the 2017 President's Award for Academic Excellence and Co-Curricular Involvement for her major.

While the Swanson and Sweeney Awards have been given annually, the department established a new award this year, the Leopard Award for Athletic Excellence. The Leopard Award for Athletic Excellence recognizes an outstanding achievement by a Wentworth student-athlete, coach, or support staff member. The award is presented at the discretion of the members of the Department of Athletics and may not be presented every year. The inaugural recipients of this award were Jake Reed (Arvada, Colo.) of the men's volleyball team and Mary Pastorelli (Whitesboro, N.Y.) of the women's soccer team.

Pastorelli was a key reason why the Leopards allowed just 14 goals in 23 contests and a 0.59 goals against average, which included a program-record 14 shutouts. The two-time (2015, 2016) Commonwealth Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year and three-time (2014, 2015, 2016) CCC All-Conference honoree was also a factor in Wentworth's offense as she had three goals and three assists for nine points. Pastorelli had a goal and an assist in the Leopards' 4-0 win over Gordon in the CCC title game. For her career, she started 74 of the 82 games in which she played and in addition to anchoring the defense, had seven goals and five assists for 19 career points. She ranks fourth on the Leopards' career list for both games played and games started.

Reed helped the men's volleyball team to its best season in history as the Leopards captured their second straight Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship and earned the program's second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament where advanced to the semifinals for the first time in program history. The school's first, First Team All-American, Reed averaged 3.47 kills and 1.13 digs per set while hitting .334. In the Leopards' pair of GNAC Tournament wins, he hit .365 while in the NCAA Tournament he hit .438 which earned him a spot on the All-Tournament Team. A four-time All-GNAC selection and two-time GNAC Tournament most valuable player, Reed finished his career as the program's all-time leader in kills (1,237) and points (1,574.5), while ranking second in service aces (178), third in both sets (414) and matches (119) played and sixth in both attack percentage (.290) and digs (539).

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