LOUDONVILLE, NY – A pair of senior members of Siena Cross Country & Track were recognized as the latest recipients of the Leo Dufort Student Athlete of the Month awards. Seniors Tommy Anderson and Delia McDade Clay were honored for the month of October.
A four-year member of the program and team captain, Anderson recently earned All-MAAC honors at the MAAC Cross Country Championships for the first time in his collegiate career with a 15th place finish at last Saturday's event. He was honored as the Siena Athletics Male Rising Star for the 2021-22 school year, and was given the Male Track Performance of the Year award last season. Anderson was the 2022 MAAC Outdoor Track Individual Champion in the 3000-meter steeplechase, and was once named the MAAC Male Track Performer of the Week and MAAC Cross Country Runner of the Week during the 2021-22 campaign. A member of both the MAAC All-Academic Team and the MAAC Academic Honor Roll, he holds a 3.58 GPA as a biology major, and currently serves as the vice president of Siena's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
McDade Clay also took home All-MAAC honors with a fourth-place finish at the 2022 MAAC Cross Country Championships, and was an All-East honoree after placing 11th at the 2022 ECAC Cross Country Championships. The Rochester, NY native was named the team's Most Improved Female Track Runner for the 2021-22 season. She was part of the women's distance medley relay and 4x800 relay teams that both set school records during the 2022 outdoor track season, and became just the third runner in women's program history to eclipse a five-minute mile time last March. A member of the MAAC All-Academic Team and MAAC Academic Honor Roll, McDade Clay holds a 3.74 GPA as a psychology major, and is the president of Siena's SAAC. She is also serving as the MAAC SAAC Chair for the 2022-23 school year.
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.
