The 2005-2006 Farmingdale State Athletic Banquet was held on Monday, May 8th at the Huntington Hilton in Huntington, NY. The banquet brought 200 people who support Farmingdale State Athletics and are proud of the student-athletes accomplishments throughout the year. The many awards given out included the Alumni Association Male and Female Athlete of the Year, the President's Award (for outstanding team) and the Academic Award (highest team GPA).

Each year the Alumni Association chooses a male and female athlete of the year, a student-athlete who has achieved excellence within their sport(s). The 2005-06 Female Athlete of the Year was Gina Moscato and the Male Co-Athletes of the Year were Kenny McMillan and Patric Santiago.

The Alumni Association Female Athlete of the Year, Gina Moscato, is a two-sport athlete competing in volleyball and softball. This past season in volleyball, she led her team in kills and digs and was named a Second Team All-Skyline player. A co-captain, she has led the team in kills in each of her first three seasons. She was a two time First Team All-WIAC selection and was on the Skyline Player of the Week list three times this past season. On the softball diamond, she has been an offensive force the past three years for Farmingdale. This past season she led the team in hits, runs scored and RBI's and has twice been named a First Team All-Skyline player. She should leave Farmingdale after next year as the college's All-Time leader in RBI's. She is a junior and a Sports Management Major.

The 2005-06 Alumni Association Male Athlete of the Year was given to two individuals, seniors Kenny McMillan and Patric Santiago. Both recipients have been named Athletes of the Year at Farmingdale twice and both will be graduating this May.

Our first recipient, Kenny McMillan, a Management Technology major, led the Rams to the first-ever Skyline Conference Championship in school history and first NCAA Tournament victory. He finished first on the team in points, rebounds, blocks and steals. He was named Skyline Player of the Year for the second straight season, after finishing third in the conference in scoring, first in rebounding and second in steals, while helping the Rams to a 23-6 overall record. He recorded 17 double-doubles and finished 7th in the Nation in rebounding. He was the first student-athlete at Farmingdale to be seen in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd, was named to the D3Hoops Atlantic Region First Team, All-Metropolitan Basketball First Team, National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District First Team and ECAC First Team All-Star. He graduates this year as the schools All-Time leading scorer and rebounder with 1,773 points and 1,017 rebounds.

Our second recipient, Patric Santiago, is a 4-sport athlete at Farmingdale State, competing in golf, soccer, indoor and outdoor track. As the men's soccer co-captain and starting goalkeeper, he finished his senior year with 109 saves and four shutouts. His junior year he ranked 15th in the nation among Division III goalies with an average of eight saves per game. In his freshman year, he was named Most Valuable Player of the Rams Invitational. In golf, he was the number-one player and captain of the team for the past four years, including nine career rounds under 75. He was the medalist in the last college match of his career and took 2nd place in the Farmingdale State Invitational. In indoor and outdoor track, he competes in the Triple Jump; his personal best jump is currently 44 feet, 6 inches. In indoor track, he placed 4th this year at the ECAC Championships and during his junior year he placed 8th at the CTC Championships. In outdoor track, he took 3rd place at the CTC Championships and 4th place in his junior year. He qualified for the ECAC's in both his junior and senior years and will be competing next week at Springfield College. He is a Management Technology major holding a 3.98 GPA. He is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the Vice President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, has received the Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence and is a two-time recipient of the Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Award.

The 2005-06 President's Award winner was the Men's Basketball Team. The men's basketball team finished with a 23-6 record under second year head coach Erik Smiles. The Rams won the schools first-ever Skyline Conference Championship. Senior Kenny McMillan was named Player of the Year for the second year in a row and First Team All-Skyline, freshman Daimien Santana was named Co-Rookie of the Year, senior Dashawn Warren was named Skyline Championship MVP and First Team All-Skyline and Coach Smiles was named Skyline Coach of the Year for the second straight season. By winning the conference championship, the Rams received an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, their first-ever in program history. They defeated Ursinus College in the first-round, but fell in the second-round to the eventual Champions Virginia-Wesleyan University. The team also had three Top-10 National rankings; sophomore guard Peter Lipka led the nation in 3-point field goal percentage, as a team the Rams ranked 4th in 3-point field-goal percentage and senior Kenny McMillan was ranked 7th in rebounds per game.

Each year one team receives the Academic Award, which is the team with the highest cumulative grade point average. The 2005-06 Academic Award winner was the Women's Lacrosse Team. The team's GPA at the end of the fall 2005 semester was 3.07. Other notable Team GPA's were: Men's Golf - 3.05 and Men's Cross-Country - 3.03.

Three athletes received the 2006 Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Award from New York's Chancellor John Ryan. The Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Award was created to recognize outstanding academic excellence and outstanding athletic achievement. Recipients were selected after a thorough review of their credentials and accomplishments by athletic directors from across the State University System. This year's winners were (from left to right): Peter Lipka (Men's Basketball), Patric Santiago (Golf) and Joe Meola (Men's Lacrosse)...

The 2006 Senior Student-Athletes...

Each team awards a Most Valuable Player for their exceptional contributions on the field, golf course, track or courts. This years' MVP winners were: Mike Landi (Men's X-country), Akil Williams (Men's Indoor Track), Rachael Osbourne (Women's Indoor Track), Reggie Routier (Men's Outdoor Track), Kara Grech (Women's Outdoor Track), Kyle Havas (Golf), Angela Barea (Women's Soccer), Thomas Florez (Men's Soccer), Gina Moscato (Volleyball and Softball), Ryan LaFlare (Men's Lacrosse), Janine Forman (Women's Lacrosse), Mercedes Miller (Women's Basketball), Dashawn Warren (Men's Basketball) and Jesse Scott (Baseball). Coaches awards were given to: Tiffany deBeaumont (Softball), Ryan Pembroke (Baseball) and MD Mazique (Men's Basketball).

Congratulations to all our student-athletes for a great year of Farmingdale State Athletics!

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