Garcia And Marifiote Named Finalists For GNAC Men's And Women's Athlete of the Year
WINTHROP, Mass. – Anna Maria College softball grad Ashley Garcia and baseball grad Jarrod Marifiote were named finalists for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) 2022-23 Athlete of the Year award for men's and women's sports.
The GNAC Athlete of the Year award is modeled after the NCAA Man and Woman of the Year award. It recognizes graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership.
This year's women's finalists:
- Keegan Riccio, Albertus Magnus
- Ashley Garcia, Anna Maria
- Shannon O'Connell, Colby-Sawyer
- Zoe Coleman, Dean
- Taylor Borla, Elms
- Jordan Restivo, Johnson & Wales
- Sheridan Blaha, Lasell
- Cashman Murphy, Regis
- Avery Pollard, Rivier
- Madison Michaud, Saint Joseph's (Maine)
- Riley Wasiuk, Simmons
- Tatiana Bilbraut, University of Saint Joseph (Conn.)
This year's men's finalists:
- Declan Ryan, Albertus Magnus
- Jarrod Marifiote, Anna Maria
- Finn Husband, Colby-Sawyer
- Brian Dovidio, Dean
- Alec Erskine, Emmanuel
- Elisio Nascimento, Lasell
- Santiago Pedraza Novak, Regis
- Michael Torres, University of Saint Joseph (Conn.)
Ashley Garcia:
Garcia overcame a lot to find herself as a student-athlete at Anna Maria. She double-majored in criminology and psychology as an undergrad, earning a 3.9 GPA and also worked on her MBA with a 4.0. Her grades helped earn her a spot on the honor roll in all four years. Primarily a softball student-athlete, Garcia was called in to help the field hockey team due to injuries. She demonstrated leadership learning the new sport and helping the team to a number of key victories. On the diamond, she was a four-year captain, which helped foster leadership skills that would help her in other positions at Anna Maria and in the community. She also served as President of both her class and of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Garcia also helped organize events with You're With Us and End Hate. She was a member of the Worcester County Opioid Task Force, went on a campus ministry trip to Puerto Rico in 2019, and also worked with the LIFT organization to help victims of the sex trade. In 2021, the two-sport AMCAT was also a 75th Anniversary committee member.
Personal Statement:
"Being an athlete at Anna Maria College was one of the most rewarding and life-impacting experiences.
Academics are always essential to me as it was unsure if I would even be able to attend college due to financial struggles and having a single parent. I was able to graduate with a double major in forensic criminology and psychology with a 3.9 and my MBA with a 4.0 and had earned a spot on the Dean's list every semester. I was also a four-year captain for the softball team and president of SAAC during my undergrad years as well as class President.
I was able to start the End Hate event where people can reflect, see change, and join together as one on racial issues and making our community better. During this event professors, coaches, students, and other AMC community members all come to have their voices heard. Another way I was able to be a leader was volunteering through our campus ministry on a missionary trip to Puerto Rico to help rebuild houses that were destroyed by natural disasters.
All five years at AMC I partnered with the You're With Us organization. I gained a teammate and lifelong friend. This non-profit ensures opportunities for young adults with disabilities. By far it has been one of the most rewarding and touching experiences I have had being in her life. In the Worcester community, I was also able to be a leader off campus by volunteering at LIFT a shelter committed to ending the sex trade.
Due to injuries and not having enough players, I was asked to help our field hockey team this past season. With no prior experience playing the sport I knew it was going to be difficult. I knew that as an athlete I could not let them struggle even if I was just to be someone to give a teammate a breather. At first noticing how hard the sport was, I was defeated that I would not be able to be there for my team and let them down. However, with three practices under my belt I was thrown into my first game starting that same week. My first game, I was nervous and still had very limited knowledge on how to even play the sport. That game, I wound up scoring the game-winning goal and first win of the season. We went on to end our losing streak to having help the program have one of the best seasons we have had. Leading us to playoffs, scoring the most team goals, points, and game winning goals I was shocked at what I pushed myself to do. I was able to perceiver and fight to learn something outside of my comfort zone and help be a leader no matter the experience I had going in.
All of these events have made me grow not only as a student and athlete but also as a person. My life-what I think and how I act- is my message to the world. If I can be a catalyst for change in any way possible, I will ensure that I will give it my all."
Jarrod Marifiote:
The 2023 GNAC Player of the Year graduated with a 3.9 GPA, majoring in Criminal Justice. Marifiote has landed himself on the honor roll all four years at Anna Maria. The GNAC Player of the Year also made the D3 Baseball Second Team All-Region and ABCA Third Team All-Region this past season. Marifiote also set the single season record in RBIs at Anna Maria with 50. Outside the diamond, he worked in the admissions office for two years, worked in the athletic department offices for one year, did volunteer work for a year at the Food Pantry, volunteered for home Football contests for four years and worked as a reader for the Paxton Elementary School for three years.
Personal Statement:
"After I received my Player of the Year award this spring, a former teammate who I look up to very much, sent me a simple text, "Congratulations, now you know you can be successful in life in anything you do, even after being knocked down."
This statement is in regard to how the last 2 years have gone for me. The spring of 22 was my "Senior" season, and I ended the year with 38 AB's after being named 2nd team all conference the year before. This was the hardest year of my life, and not just between the foul lines. After starting the first game of the year, the next few games I started coming off the bench, which is an adjustment, but one that I could handle. I then became sick. For the next month, I would make numerous trips to urgent care and lose 30lbs in the process. All I wanted to do was play baseball, and I couldn't even be around all of my teammates that I consider family. I had never missed a game in my 8 years of high school and college career, and during this time I missed more than I made, I didn't know what to do with myself. When I finally did return, I had to get back into the swing of things, and it was no easy task. I saw more games of watching from the bench and really did not know how to handle it. I get back into the lineup after starting to feel normal again, and I run through a fence going after a flyball, head off a post and that was all she wrote for that game and the next few games, I could not catch a break. As the season wore on, I began to think about the possibility of just quitting Baseball, which I had never thought of before, Baseball was all I knew. When the season ended; I did not make my decision on what I was going to do until I walked into coaches' office for exit meetings. I told him how I felt about the season, and we had an adult conversation. At that point, I then told him that I would be returning and be the best leader we had, and I would fill the shoes of the players/leaders we would be losing. I was going to make a difference. I knew what I was capable of.
Fast forward to the fall, I play pretty well in our scrimmages and fall game, and just feel like I have my swagger back. I tell him that when we return in the spring, I am going to be the player of the year, I told him what was going to happen, and it did. I have never been a part of something like that in my life, and opened my own eyes to the reality that, if you set out to achieve a goal, you can, no matter how tall the task."
The GNAC Athlete of the Year for men's and women's sports will be announced this week and will be submitted as the conference nominee for both NCAA Man and Woman of the Year as well as the Division III Commissioners Association (D3CA) Men's and Women's Sport Student-Athlete of the Year.
