LOUDONVILLE, NY – Siena Athletics announced the latest recipients of the Leo Dufort Student Athlete of the Month award on Tuesday morning. Women's Tennis fifth year Meagan Brown and Swimming & Diving senior Elisabeth Balicanta received the accolade for the month of January 2023.
A two-time Second Team All-MAAC selection for No. 1 Singles and a one-time honoree for No. 1 Doubles, Brown has played from the top spot in the lineup for nearly her entire collegiate career. The 2021 MAAC Tournament MVP, she led the Saints to their first title in 15 years, and was a three-time MAAC Player of the Year honoree during the 2021-22 campaign.
A fifth year who will graduate in the spring, the Elk River, Minnesota native holds a 3.31 cumulative GPA while double majoring in biology and psychology. She has served as a team captain, and has been a member of the MAAC Academic Honor Roll and MAAC All-Academic Team.
A four-year member of the swimming & diving team and the program's first athlete to hail from the West Coast in over a decade, Balicanta has turned in five best times so far this season, including in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 back, 100 fly, and 200 fly. She is currently ranked #10 on the program's All-Time Top Ten list in the 100 fly with a time of 59.26 swam at the ECAC Winter Championships back on Dec. 4, 2022.
A native of Pleasanton, California, she currently holds a 3.89 cumulative GPA as a communications & journalism major, and was a member of the prestigious 4.0 Club during the Fall 2022 term. A member of the MAAC All-Academic Team and MAAC Academic Honor Roll throughout her collegiate career, Balicanta is also a two-time Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar.
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.
