LOUDONVILLE, NY – A pair of Siena Cross Country & Track upperclassmen were named the Leo Dufort Student Athletes of the Month for October 2020, the department announced Tuesday afternoon. Graduate student Stosh Davis and senior Morgan Serkes were honored for their performances on the track and in the classroom.
Just the second graduate student in the history of the program to compete, Davis served as a team captain last season and has consistently bee one of the team's top cross country performers. The New Milford, Connecticut native placed 18th at the 2017 MAAC Cross Country Championships and 11th in 2018 to earn All-MAAC honors. He competed in that year's NCAA Division I Northeast Region Cross Country Championships, placing 24th to earn an NCAA DI Northeast Region All-Region Team selection. Davis also placed fifth and eighth, respectively, in the 5,000 meter and 3,000 meter races at the 2019 MAAC Indoor Track Championships.
Davis earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Siena in 2020 while holding a 3.75 cumulative GPA and a 3.91 mark during the Spring 2020 term. He has made the MAAC All-Academic Team and MAAC Academic Honor Roll in each year of eligibility, and also took home USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors during the 2018-19 season.
A two-year team captain, Serkes was part of the school record relay teams in the 4x800 meter race, which was set on May 6, 2018, as well as the distance medley relay, which was broken on March 8, 2020. She has represented the Saints' cross country team at the NCAA Division I Northeast Regional meet, and finished a career best 24th at the 2019 MAAC Cross Country Championships. Aside from helping the DMR team break the school record at the 2020 ECAC/IC4A Championships this past march, the Goshen, New York product aided the relay in placing second at the 2020 MAAC Indoor Track Championships.
A psychology major with an educational studies and sociology minor, Serkes holds a 3.59 cumulative GPA and carried a 3.94 mark during the Spring 2020 term. She has consistently been placed on the MAAC All-Academic Team and the MAAC Academic Honor Roll.
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.
