FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 11, 2005

Rhode Island College Announces
2005 Spring Sports MVPs

Providence, RI-- The Rhode Island College Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, Intramurals and Recreation held its annual Winter Banquet at RIC’s Donovan Dining Center on Tuesday, May 10 to honor those student-athletes who participate in varsity spring athletics. Each sport gave out their Most Valuable Player Award.

Baseball

Senior outfielder Chris Higgins (Swansea, MA) was named the baseball team’s MVP. On the season, Higgins has played in 34 games, starting 33 of them. He is batting a team-high .429 with a team-high 57 hits along with two home runs, 12 doubles, two triples, 26 RBI, 22 runs scored, ten walks and three stolen bases. Higgins owns team-highs with a .473 on-base percentage and a .594 slugging percentage. He also has a .952 fielding percentage. He has been named the LEC Player of the Week once this season.

He is a sociology major and a 2000 graduate of Joseph Case High School.

Softball

Senior third baseman Amy Machado (Newport, RI) was named the softball team’s MVP. On the season, Machado has played in 38 games, starting 37 of them. She is batting .325 with 39 hits, two home runs, ten doubles, two triples, 14 runs scored and a team-high 24 RBI. Machado owns a .492 slugging percentage, a .364 on-base percentage and a .897 fielding percentage.

She is a physical education major and a 2001 graduate of Rogers High School.

Women’s Lacrosse

Sophomore Caitlin Gavin (Portsmouth, RI) was named the women’s lacrosse team’s MVP. On the season, Gavin has played in 14 games, starting all of them. She has a team-high 94 points and a team-best 79 goals to go along with 15 assists. Gavin has also compiled a team-high 163 shots, 134 on goal, 89 draw controls and 87 ground balls. She has established new RIC records for a single season in goals, points, shots, shots on goal, draw controls and ground balls. She is second in the nation (Div. III) in points, goals, draw controls and ground balls per game as of last week. She has been named the Little East Conference Player of the Week once this season.

She is an elementary education major and a 2003 graduate of Portsmouth High School.

Men’s Outdoor Track & Field

Freshman Jordan Wright (Brookline, MA) was named the men’s outdoor track and field team’s MVP.  This season, Wright earned All-Alliance/Little East honors in six events. He placed fifth in the 100 meters, sixth in the 200 meters, third as part of the 4x400 meter relay and seventh as part of the 4x100 meter relay with times of 11.50, 23.36, 3:33.39 and 45.22, respectively, as well as eighth in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump with leaps of 6.14 meters and 12.83 meters, respectively. In other competition this spring, he placed eighth in the 100 meters and ninth in the 200 meters with times of 11.96 and 23.47, respectively, and was seventh in the long jump with a leap of 6.28 meters at the Solomon Husky Invitational on Apr. 23. Wright placed fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 41’07.75”, as well as 15^th in the 200 meters with a time of 27.01, at the Snowflake Classic on Mar. 26.

He is a economics/management major and a 2004 graduate of Brookline High School.

Women’s Outdoor Track and Field

Junior Dana Skorupa (Cumberland, RI) was named the women’s outdoor track and field team’s MVP. This spring, Skorupa earned All-Alliance/Little East honors in four events. She placed second in the 100 meters, first in the 200 meters and sixth as part of the 4x100 meter relay with times of 12.72, 26.48 and 52.89, respectively, as well as third in the long jump with a leap of 4.92 meters. In other competition this spring, Skorupa placed third in the 100 meters and second in the 200 meters with times of 13.08 and 27.35, respectively, as well as seventh in the long jump with a leap of 4.77 meters at the Solomon Husky Invitational on Apr. 23. She placed sixth in both the 100 and 200 meters with times of 12.98 and 26.51, respectively, at the Albany Invitational on Apr. 16. She placed first in both the 100 and 200 meters with times of 12.72 and 26.39, respectively, and fourth in the long jump with a leap of 15’09.00” at the Bryant Invitational on Apr. 9. Skorupa placed third in the 100 meters and seventh in the long jump with results of 13.12 and 15’07.00”, respectively, at the Snowflake Classic on Mar. 26.

She is an elementary education major with a minor in special education and a 2002 graduate of Cumberland High School.

Men’s Tennis

Senior Julio Andrade (Cranston, RI) was named the men’s tennis team’s MVP. For the spring, Andrade went 14-3 (.824) at number three singles and 10-7 (.588) at number one doubles for 19.0 points on the season. He was named the LEC’s Player of the Week once on the season. Andrade led the team in singles wins and points, and was tied for the team-lead in doubles victories. He went 1-1 at both number three singles and number one doubles at the LEC Championships.

He is an elementary education major with a minor in social studies and a 1999 graduate of Cranston East High School.

Golf

Sophomore Tim Carpentier (Smithfield, RI) was named the golf team’s MVP. On the spring, Carpentier averaged a score of 85.0 in three matches. He fired a season-low score of 84, sharing medallist honors, vs. Johnson &Wales/Wentworth on Apr. 20.

He is an elementary education major and a 2002 graduate of Woonsocket High School.