ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell seniors
Brianne Jenner and
Stephen Mozia took home the Charles H. Moore Outstanding Senior Varsity Athlete Award on Tuesday evening at the school's annual senior athletics banquet.
Connor Buczek and
Mary Beth Hannon both earned the Ronald P. Lynch Senior Spirit Award, given to student-athletes whose leadership on and off the field model the ideals of the Big Red athletics department.
Lindsay Toppe was recognized with the Mario St. George Boiardi '04 Leadership Award for most embodying leadership, athleticism and a strong work ethic.
A four-time first-team all-league selection in ECAC Hockey and the Ivy League, Jenner earned first-team All-America honors in 2013 and second-team accolades in 2015 for the Big Red women's ice hockey team. The two-time ECAC Hockey and Ivy League Player of the Year, Jenner graduated as the program's all-time assist leader with 136 career helpers and is second all-time with 229 career points. A four-time Patty Kazmaier Award nominee, she was twice a top 10 finalist. She earned a spot on the ECAC Hockey Championship's all-tournament team and captured Ivy League Rookie of the Year trophy as a freshman in 2011. Jenner sat out the 2013-14 school year while competing for Team Canada at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, helping the squad to a gold medal.
An eight-time All-American in track and field, Mozia holds the all-time Ivy record in both the shot put (68-7) and the discus (206-5). A two-time Heps Most Outstanding Field Athlete, Mozia has claimed All-America honors four times indoors in the shot put and two times outdoors in both the shot put and discus. He was the NCAA Runner-up in the shot indoors and outdoors in 2014. The Cornell and Nigerian record holder in the shot put and discus, he also sits on the Cornell top 10 in both the hammer throw and the 35-pound weight throw. Mozia was the only undergraduate at the indoor IAAF World Championships in 2014 and the youngest competitor in the shot put by almost four years and has represented Nigeria at the African Championships, The Continental Cup, and the Commonwealth Games.
Buczek was the 2014 Ivy League Player of the Year and a first-team All-American in men's lacrosse. He is a three-time unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection, becoming just the ninth player in Cornell history and the 33rd player in the history of the Ivy League to be named to the top squad three times in a career. A 2014 and 2015 Tewaaraton Trophy nominee, he is a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award. Buczek became the first midfielder in Cornell history to score 40 goals in a season in 2015, becoming just the seventh midfielder in the history of the Ivy League to record both 40 goals in a single season and 100 goals in a career. He will graduate as the top scoring midfielder in Big Red history with 155 points and ranks in the top 20 in Cornell history among all players for points (13th – 155), goals (ninth – 106), and assists (18th – 49). An outstanding student in Cornell's Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Buczek has earned a spot on the Dean's List three times, earned USILA Scholar-Athlete honors and is a candidate for the Capital One Academic All-America team. He was accepted into the prestigious Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell as one of just two individuals, and the only one from Cornell, to be admitted directly from undergraduate studies. The two-time team captain was named the team's "Hard Hat" during the 2014 season. Off the field, he helped to plan, organize and execute the 21 Run for the Boiardi Foundation, the Clinic For a Cause to benefit the Dream Factory of Central New York, and the Save the Day Blood Drive. He is also a four-year member of the Big Red Readers. Buczek has volunteered at the Ithaca Book Fest (2011-14), the Turkey Shootout (2011-12), and the Fun Walk for Immaculate Conception School (2011-14); helped kick off the Salvation Army's bell-ringing campaign in the Ithaca Commons and volunteered with the BackPack Program for the Food Bank of the Southern Tier. Last year, Buczek helped to coach at the Ithaca Youth Lacrosse Clinic, and in 2011 he helped with the Oswego clean-up after floods devastated the area.
A campus leader and a member of the Big Red equestrian team, Hannon has spent the last year and a half as co-President of Cornell Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) where she worked to improve the presence of varsity athletes within the department and the Cornell community and also to strengthen camaraderie between athletes on different teams. Hannon helped organize charity fundraisers such as Bench Press for a Cure, Win a Date With the Big Red, and Big Red's Got Talent, which benefit charitable organizations here in Ithaca. She was accepted into Red Key Athletic Honor Society as a sophomore and assumed roles coordinating collaboration between SAAC and Red Key to help modify the Cornell Cup competition. She has been involved with organizing events with Ithaca Youth Bureau, Big Brother/Big Sister, and the Rackers' Center. Hannon is a member of the inaugural upperclass cohort of Big Red Leadership Institute and travelled to the Naval Academy Leadership Conference before being selected as one of the program's interns as a senior. Hannon helped in the creation of BRLI's Mentorship Program, where she has five mentees as well; the program has successfully matched more than 100 student-athletes with similar leadership and academic interests to members of other teams. Hannon helped form an athlete steering committee that is working on planning a Leadership in Athletics Conference at Cornell next fall, has formed outreach programs for nearby high school athletics teams, and is looking to enhance professional/career development opportunities for Cornell's student-athlete population. She took an active role early on and was given a team job (tack manager) during second semester of freshman year on the equestrian team. As a junior she took over the adopt-a-horse position and successfully ran three more shows. As a freshman, she was given the "Pippy Long-stocking Perpetual Trophy Award", a team tradition honoring the most spirited/energetic rookie each year.
Toppe became the school's career leader in goals scored (149) for the women's lacrosse program and was named Ivy League Attacker of the Year in 2014. A three-time first-team All-Ivy League selection, she also earned IWLCA first-team All-Northeast district honors in each of her final three years. A four-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, she graduated third all-time at Cornell in career points (185) and had two of the top six single-season goal scoring totals. A Tewaaraton Trophy candidate in 2015, she was named to the Ivy League's all-tournament team this past season. Toppe served as a two-year team captain. She was a member of the Big Red Leadership Institute and learned how to handle many different and difficult situations; always holding true to the pillars of the program—hard work, positive attitude, team first. Toppe was an active member of the Red Key Athletic Honor Society (Athletic Chairman), Delta Gamma, the lacrosse team's Dodgeball committee (co-chair in her sophomore year), and Sphinx Head. She will graduate with a grade point average of better than 3.8 from the Dyson School and is a multiple-time member of the 400 Club.
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