LOUDONVILLE, NY – Siena Cross Country student-athletes took the spotlight for the month of October as Julia Caputo and Killian McNamee were named the Leo Dufort Student-Athletes of the Month.
 
Caputo, a senior from Canton, CT, is coming off her personal best performance in the women's 6K race at the 2024 MAAC Cross Country Championships at Twin Ponds on the Farm for running a sub 21-minute time, checking in at 20:48.5 to place third overall.  The time bested besting previous her time on the same course seven weeks earlier by nearly 17 seconds.
 
Caputo was named to the MAAC All-Championship Team for her performance and was previously named the MAAC Female Student-Athlete of the Week on Oct. 23.  Caputo holds a 3.92 GPA to be included within the President's Club for those students-athletes who hold a GPA between 3.5 and 3.99 and majors in Health Studies Health Science. She's been a recipient of the MAAC All-Academic Team or a MAAC Honor Roll member since 2021-22 when she joined the Siena program. 
 
McNamee, a graduate student from Tolland, CT, also ran a personal best time at the MAAC Cross Country Championships.  McNamee finished with his best collegiate performance, running the men's 8k in 24:39.3 to place 14^th overall.  The time was about 12 seconds faster than seven weeks prior at Twin Ponds on the Farm in Montgomery, NY.  Earlier this season, McNamee was also named the MAAC Runner of the Week on Sept. 18 after finishing the same course in 24:51.9 at the Jasper Invite to place third among all runners.
 
McNamee holds a 4.0 GPA and majors in Biology. He's been a recipient of the MAAC All-Academic Team or a MAAC Honor Roll member since the 2020-21 season when he joined the Siena program.
 
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.