NEW YORK—Fifth 12 months monitor & subject star
Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) and junior swimmer
Katie White (Lakeville, Mass.) have been introduced on Friday morning as winners of 2024-25 BIG EAST Sport Excellence Awards in recognition of their educational and athletic achievements in addition to group service. This is the 13
th time within the 16-year historical past of the award and the sixth 12 months in a row that Villanova has had a number of Sport Excellence Award honorees.
Following the conclusion of every educational 12 months, the BIG EAST Sport Excellence Awards are introduced to at least one student-athlete in every BIG EAST-sponsored sport based mostly on educational credentials, athletic accolades or performances and volunteer service to the group. Student-athletes who’ve attained junior educational standing and a minimal cumulative grade-point common of three.00 are eligible. The winners are chosen by the BIG EAST Faculty Athletics Representative Council.
Villanova has had 47 complete winners of Sport Excellence Awards for the reason that creation of this honor starting with the 2009-10 educational 12 months, together with 23 honorees within the final six years alone. This is the fifth time within the final six years {that a} member of the
ladies’s monitor & subject and cross nation program has been acknowledged, with Clayton reaching the dignity for the second straight 12 months. The
ladies’s swimming & diving crew has had six winners of the award.
While the format of the awards permit for just one declared winner in every sport class, the number of the recipients proves every year to be a problem for the FAR Council, as candidate nominees symbolize distinctive student-athletes who excel in lecturers, service and athletics, and are excellent representatives of their faculties and the Conference. Villanova is certainly one of seven BIG EAST members to earn a number of Sport Excellence Awards in 2024-25.
See beneath for profiles of every of the Wildcats award winners.
Roschell Clayton, Women’s Indoor Track & Field Clayton wrapped up a record-breaking collegiate profession in March by successful her fourth profession BIG EAST title within the excessive soar. She was named the Outstanding Field Performer on the BIG EAST Championships and graduates because the Villanova document holder within the excessive soar each indoors (1.88m) and outdoor (1.87m). Clayton is the Wildcats first athlete ever to be a four-time BIG EAST excessive soar champion and he or she demonstrated her elite capability on a nationwide stage with three profession All-America honors. Her high finishes on the NCAA Championships embrace a tie for fifth place on the 2024 out of doors championships and a tie for sixth place on the 2024 indoor nationwide meet.
The educational accomplishments for Clayton throughout her collegiate profession are equally spectacular to what she achieved in athletic competitors. She graduated from Villanova a semester early in December 2023 with a serious in Communication and went on to enroll in graduate faculty and pursue her MBA from the Villanova School of Business throughout her last three semesters of athletic eligibility. Clayton was named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for having a GPA of three.2 or greater in all 10 of her semesters on campus. She was named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team 5 straight years from 2020-21 by way of 2024-25 and has additionally been a member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team yearly of her collegiate profession.
Clayton gained the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award for ladies’s out of doors monitor & subject in 2024 and was named the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Performer of the Year in ladies’s monitor & subject the identical 12 months. She is a two-time member of the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Team and earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District recognition this 12 months.
Katie White, Women’s Swimming & Diving White is a two-time BIG EAST champion and earned her fourth profession All-BIG EAST honor this season with a silver medal end within the 1650 yard freestyle. She recorded a time of 16:31.93 on the convention championships and added Championship Final appearances within the 200 yard butterfly and the five hundred yard freestyle whereas inserting fifth in each races.
During the 2024-25 season White posted high instances within the 100 yard butterfly (55.65), the 200 fly (1:59.41) and the five hundred free (4:50.38). The latter two instances every got here throughout the convention championships the place she helped Villanova win its program document 12
th straight convention title. White is a two-time All-BIG EAST performer within the 200 fly and was the 2023 convention champion within the occasion. She will enter the 2025-26 marketing campaign ranked third at school historical past within the 200 fly and eighth within the 1650 free.
Outside of the pool, White has persistently excelled in her educational pursuits. This 12 months she was named a second crew Scholar All-American by the Collegiate Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA). The award acknowledges people with a 3.5 or greater GPA who’ve achieved no less than a “B” time customary for nationwide championship qualification. White is a two-time choice to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and has earned a spot on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for having a semester GPA of three.2 or greater in all six semesters of her collegiate profession.