New York, New York – After a successful 2023-24 Athletic season packed with championship accolades and awards, 12 BMCC Athletics student-athletes added to those list of achievements as they were named to the 2023-24 NJCAA Academic All-Region 15 team for their exemplary work in the classroom. The Academic All-Region 15 accolades are given to student-athletes with a grade-point average of 3.25 or better on a 4.0 scale for the 2023-24 academic year.
"The most important part of being a student-athlete at BMCC is academics," said
Matthew Ruiz, Director of Athletics & Recreation at BMCC. "With the success seen academically at the conference and region level, along with the number of graduates that walked across the stage at the Barclays Center earlier this month, the hard work put in by our student-athletes in the classroom is evident."
The list of honorees is comprised of sports from the 2023-24 Athletic Seasons (men's & women's cross country, men's & women's soccer, women's volleyball and tennis, football, men's & women's basketball, men's and women's indoor track & field, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's bowling, men's wrestling, men's and women's outdoor track & field, men's lacrosse and volleyball, men's golf and tennis, baseball, and softball).
The BMCC men's soccer team, fresh off of
its league-best 14th CUNYAC Community College Championship, led the charge with four student-athletes on the 2023-24 Academic All-Region 15 team, while the Panthers women's soccer team that captured the
program's first-ever CUNYAC title, men's and women's cross country and track and field team, and baseball team were second with two selections each.
Emily Kennedy (Brooklyn, New York),
a two-time CUNYAC Community College All-Star and
2023-24 All-Region 15 Second Team selection, and
God'slove Ukpe (Port Harcout, Nigeria) were the lone representatives from the BMCC women's and men's basketball program to land on the Academic All-Region 15 team.
Abdoul Sinare (Brooklyn, New York), Nanga Adam Coulibaly (Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast), Moussa Diawara, and Billy Hoyos (Bronx, New York) were a part of a Panthers men's soccer program that captured a second straight CUNYAC Community College Men's Soccer Championship in 2023 and its first CUNYAC Community College Men's Soccer Regular Season title since 2018, while all four also landed on the 2023 CUNYAC Fall Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll. Sinare finished the 2023 campaign on fire with all five points on his season in his last three matches against Kingsborough Community College, registering an assist during the Panther's 3-1 win against the Wave in the season finale on October 12, 2023, that clinched the program's first league regular season crown in four seasons, while also notching a pair of markers in the Panthers Region XV quarterfinals matchup against KCC on October 19, 2023. Coulibaly registered two goals, an assist, and five points in 10 games in 2023, posting an insurance goal during a 2-0 win over Monroe Bronx on September 7, 2023, and a season-high three points with a goal and an assist during a 4-2 victory over Orange County Community College on October 10, 2023. Diawara started six games for the Panthers in 2023.
Lea Reimer (Paderborn, Germany) and Trent Santoro (Queens, New York) not only elevated the cross-country program during its second season but also guided the BMCC indoor and outdoor track and field to an outstanding inaugural season. Reimer and Santoro also achieved in the classroom during the fall, landing on the 2023 CUNYAC Fall Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll.
Reimer made history as the first Panther runner in school history to claim the Individual CUNYAC Community College Cross Country Crown, finishing second at the 2023 CUNYAC Cross Country Championships as the top Junior College runner while also becoming the outdoor track and field program's first-ever USTFCCCA All-American (United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) selection. Reimer was a three-time CUNYAC Community College All-Star during the fall, winter, and spring seasons in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field, dominating the Panther's first-ever appearances in the 2024 CUNYAC Indoor and Outdoor Championships with two first-place finishes in the women's mile and 3000 meters at the Indoor Championships and taking the top spot in the women's 10,000 meters at the Outdoor Championships. The Paderborn, Germany native registered personal bests in the women's mile and 3000 meters with times of 5:55.59 and 12:26.51 at the CUNYAC Indoor Championships and was the first female runner in program history to qualify for Nationals with a personal record in the Queensborough Relays with a time of 43.31.47 and a second-place finish in the 10,000 meter run during the outdoor season.
Santoro became the second-ever student-athlete in BMCC history to receive CSC (College Sports Communicators) Academic All-District® College Division At-Large team honors this week. The Queens, New York native also became one of the men's cross country program's first-ever top 10 finishers in school history with a fourth-place finish and a time of 34:26.90 in the 8K at the Medgar Evers College Legacy Invitational and also posted his second straight top 20 finish in the Conference Cross Country Championships, crossing the tape in 17th and posting a time of 32:18. Santoro kept it on that dial during the men's indoor and outdoor track and field seasons, finishing in the top 10 in the men's mile with a sixth-place finish and a career-best time of 5:11.16 during the 2024 CUNYAC Indoor Track and Field Championships and followed it up with two more top 10 finishes during the 2024 CUNYAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, finishing sixth and ninth with times of 4:45.12 and 2:19.04 in the men's 1500 meter and 800 meter runs, his 1500 meter mark being a new personal best.
Yamile Bastidas (Quito, Ecuador), also named to the 2023 CUNYAC Fall Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll, joined teammate Annia Noel (Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago) to play a crucial role in leading the BMCC women's soccer program to their first-ever CUNYAC Championship with a decisive 7-0 victory over Queensborough Community College. Bastidas, a 2023 All-Region 15 Second Team selection, ranked third in goals (4), including the game-winner in the 2023 CUNYAC Community College Women's Soccer Title Game, while also finishing the 2023 season third in points (10) and assists (2). Noel played in seven games in 2023 with seven starts, posting a season-best two shots against Queensborough Community College in the Conference Championship game on October 15, 2023.
Peter Marino (New York, New York) was the Panther's go-to player on the mound, posting a team-leading and season-best 29 strikeouts, with 19 of them in their only two victories during the 2024 season. The New York, New York native also posted a career-high 10 strikeouts during a 9-4 win over Bronx Community College on April 6, 2024, the program's first double-digit strikeout effort since the 2018 season, earning him CUNYAC Pitcher of the Week accolades.
Marino received 2024 CUNYAC Community College All-Star accolades and finished his career third all-time with 46 career strikeouts while also concluding his Panther career third all-time in career steals with 30 and ranking in the top ten in three other offensive categories with 33 career hits and five career doubles, which are eighth all-time, and 16 career RBIs, tied for 10th all-time. Taino Rodriguez served as a significant vocal leader for the Panthers during the 2024 season.
Kennedy finished her BMCC women's basketball career as the second player in program history to reach 700 points, finishing second in school history with 705 career points, just five shy of tying the all-time record holder Fanta Sissoko. Kennedy also finished in the top three in all-time program history in two other categories, ranking second all-time in school history with 166 career steals and 152 career assists. The Brooklyn, New York native had 322 career rebounds, which was the seventh most in program history, and her team-leading 116 steals and 115 assists are also the second and third most in a single season, while her 432 points are the fourth most.
The Benjamin Banneker Academy product also ranked in the top ten nationally in three categories, with her 5.5 steals per game, 116 steals, and 5.5 assists per game being good for second, fourth, and sixth in the country. Her 432 points and 20.6 points per game average were also 11th and 12th in the country.
Ukpe played in four games for the Panthers, scoring three points in the season opener against Middlesex County College on November 4, 2023.
Monroe College led the way with a Region-best 172 honorees. Kingsborough led all the CUNYAC schools in Academic All-Region 15 selections with 31, while BMCC followed behind in second with 12 selections. Bronx Community College and Laguardia Community College were third with six selections each, and Hostos Community College rounded it out with four honorees.
Below are the following 12 student-athletes selected to the 2023-2024 Academic All-Region 15 Team (sorted by award type and sport):
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