LOUDONVILLE, NY – Siena Cross Country posted a sweep in the Month of October with a pair of senior runners named as the Leo Dufort Student Athletes of the Month. Men's co-captain Michael Rautter and women's senior Camryn Johnson were each honored in the award's second installment of the 2019-20 academic year.
Serving as one of four co-captains during his senior campaign, Rautter recently took home a 38th place individual finish at the 2019 MAAC Championships on Nov. 2, running a 26:56.5. The New Fairfield, CT native competed in four events during the Fall 2019 cross country season for the Saints, placing third in the men's 5-meter run at the Henry Mercer Monmouth Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 21, 2019.
A two-time MAAC All-Academic Team honoree and three-year member of the MAAC Academic Honor Roll, Rautter holds a 3.8 cumulative GPA and will graduate in the spring with a degree in finance.
A product of Rock Hill, NY, Johnson registered a 23rd place finish individual in the women's 6k at the conference championships last weekend, running a time of 22:56.1. She set personal bests in both events she ran during Fall 2019 regular season competition, doing so in the 3.1 m run at the UVM Cross Country Invitational and in the women's 6k at the Paul Short Run.
Also a member of the MAAC All-Academic Team and the MAAC Academic Honor Roll throughout her collegiate career, Johnson holds a 3.92 cumulative GPA and plans to graduate in the spring with a degree in health studies. Women's Cross Country holds the second-highest team cumulative GPA in the Siena athletics department with a 3.51.
Both runners will compete among the Saints' top-7 at the 2019 NCAA Northeast Regional Championship in Buffalo, NY on Friday, Nov. 15.
The Leo Dufort Student Athlete of the Month Award is presented nine times annually (September-May) throughout the academic year. The award recognizes exemplary achievements in both academics and athletics. The late Leo Dufort received a B.S. in marketing and management from Siena in August of 1977. His entire academic career was completed on a part-time basis beginning in the spring of 1961, as a married adult while at the same time raising five children. He passed away suddenly of a heart attack while cross country skiing in February of 1993. His wife Jeanine wanted to do something to immortalize his memory. The original plaque was donated to athletics and the department began the Leo Dufort Student Athlete of the Month Award to help carry out his legacy. Dufort graduated from Catholic Central High School in 1954 and was a Navy Veteran (USS Bennington) who worked for JL Hammett Co. at the time of his death.
