VESTAL, N.Y. – Recent graduate
Matthew Cavaliere has been named the 2022-23 America East Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. This marks the first time since 2011 that a Binghamton male athlete has earned the conference's highest academic honor.
Each year, the America East names a Scholar-Athlete for each of the sports that it sponsors. The criteria is based on both academic and athletic accomplishments.
From there, the conference chooses the overall Men's and Women's Scholar-Athletes of the Year from the pool of its sport Scholar-Athletes. Cavaliere earned sport Scholar-Athlete honors during both the indoor and outdoor track & field seasons.
"To be as concise as possible, this award speaks not to my individual academic and athletic achievements, but to the culture that we have tried to create on the cross country and track teams here at Binghamton," Cavaliere said. "Many of the members on my team could've been selected for this award, as they are 4.0 students, American East champions, regional qualifiers or even national qualifiers. I'm truly honored to be recognized and hope that the next generation of student-athletes here at Binghamton understand that they can excel both academically and athletically."
Cavaliere was instrumental in leading the men's track & field teams to third-place finishes (out of nine teams) at both the conference indoor and outdoor championships. He won the mile at the indoor meet and captured the 1,500 at the outdoor competition. In the final race of his career, Cavaliere won the IC4A outdoor title in the 1,500.
Back in October, Cavaliere led the Bearcat men's cross country team to a runner-up finish at the America East Championships. He placed a team-best and career-best sixth overall.
"We are very happy for Matt," distance track coach/cross country coach
Annette Acuff said. "He had a great senior year for us and has always done great in the classroom. He is very deserving of this award."
Academic honors have been pouring in for Cavaliere this year. He was named the SUNY Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete in both indoor and outdoor track and was also named an America East Presidential Scholar-Athlete upon his graduation.
Cavaliere is the third Binghamton male athletic ever to be named the America East's overall Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Pole vaulter Rory Quiller was chosen in 2007 and 2008 while tennis standout Sven Vloedgraven was the winner in 2010 and 2011.
