For Immediate Release: May 14, 2008
Contact: Anthony G. Naglieri (sports@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-2956

Two Bearcats recognized as America East Scholar Athletes
Quiller earns top honor for indoor track, Varanda for men's swimming

Conference release

BOSTON - Graduate student and national indoor pole vault champion Rory Quiller (West Point, N.Y.) and junior swimming standout Brenno Varanda (St. Petersburg, Fla.) have been named America East Scholar Athletes in their respective winter sports for the 2007-08 academic year, as announced Wednesday by the conference office.

The Scholar-Athletes were members of teams in the six championship sports which America East offered in the winter season including men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, and men’s and women’s swimming and diving.

Quiller, a graduate student pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, punctuated his decorated Binghamton athletic career by becoming the first athlete in school history to win a NCAA Division I national title. The West Point, N.Y., native is also the first America East Conference athlete to win a national championship in its 29-year history.

This winter, the 6-foot-3 vaulter secured his sixth America East pole vault title and earned the male Most Outstanding Field Athlete honors at the indoor meet. He holds the America East and NCAA East Region outdoor pole vault records and the America East indoor pole vault record.

He concluded his collegiate eligibility as a three-time All-American in the pole vault as well as a five-time national qualifier.

Varanda, a junior mechanical engineering major, led the Bearcat men's swimming program to a 7-4 record and its fourth consecutive winning dual-meet season in 2007-08. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native won three individual titles at the 2008 America East Swimming and Diving Championship, garnering the men’s Most Outstanding Swimmer honors for the first time in his career. He led a strong cast of Bearcat breaststrokers and IM swimmers and finished the year with a team-high 24 individual wins.

Varanda will enter his senior season next fall as a three-time reigning league champion in both the 200 breaststroke and the 400-IM. In his three-year collegiate career, he has collected seven individual America East titles. The 6-0 swimmer was named to the conference's Swimming All-Academic Team earlier this spring and is also a two-time member of the America East Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

A committee of athletic administrators and NCAA Faculty Athletics Representatives chose an honoree in each of the six winter championship sports. Each America East Scholar-Athlete was a starter or prominent reserve and carries a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.20.

2007-08 America East Winter Scholar Athletes

Indoor Track and Field
Women: Carmen Lagala, Vermont
Men: Rory Quiller, Binghamton

Swimming and Diving
Women:Tina Cantwell, UMBC
Men: Brenno Varanda, Binghamton

Basketball
Women: May Kotsopoulos, Vermont
Men: Brian Lillis, Albany